Equities market loses N39.23bn amid profit-taking in Unilever, others

Investors on the equities market of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday witnessed profit-taking for the third consecutive days with the market capitalisation declining further by N39.23 billion.

The market capitalisation dipped N39.23 billion to close lower at N13.263 trillion compared with N13.301 trillion on Tuesday.

Also, the NSE All-Share Index dropped by 72.41 basis points or 0.28 per cent to close at 25,424.91 basis points from 25,497,32 basis points it closed on Tuesday.

Our correspondent gathered that sector performances were negative today as the Industrial (+0.05 per cent) was the lone gainer, while the banking sector (-1.54 per cent), Consumer Goods (-0.19 per cent) and Oil & Gas (-0.11 per cent) sectors all closed in red territory.

The downturn was impacted by loses recorded in large and medium capitalised shares, amongst which are Okomu Oil Plc, Unilever Nigeria plc, Zenith Bank PLc, C&I Leasing Plc and UACN Plc.

Market sentiment as measured by market breadth, closed negative with seven gainers against 23 laggards.

Royal Exchange led the losers’ table in percentage terms, losing 10 per cent to close at 27k per share.

Livestock Feeds came second with 9.09 per cent to close at 60k per share, while C&I Leasing lost 8.97 per cent to close at N3.55 per share.

Mutual Benefits Assurance and UACN lost 4.76 per cent each, to close at 20k and N6 per share, respectively.

Conversely, Fidson led the gainers’ chart in percentage terms, gaining 7.28 per cent to close at N3.98 per share.

PZ Cussons followed with 6.25 per cent to close at N4.25, while Custodian Investment appreciated by 3.13 per cent to close at N4.95 per share.

FCMB Group improved by 2.73 per cent to close at N2.26, while John Holt appreciated by 1.82 per cent, to close at 56k per share.

However, the volume of shares traded rose by 7.01 per cent with a turnover of 269.63 million shares worth N2.872 billion traded in 4,155 deals.

This was against a total of 251.96 million shares valued at N2.04 billion exchanged in 4,185 deals on Tuesday.

Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 35.84 million shares worth N592.13 million.

FBN Holdings followed with 33.44 million shares valued at N166.94 million, while United Bank for Africa accounted for 29.78 million shares worth N182.62 million.

Guaranty Trust Bank traded 24.89 million shares valued at N605.14 million, while Access Bank transacted 19.17 million shares worth N126.33 million.

The Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd., Mr Ambrose Omordion, attributed the decline to profit-taking in some banking stocks that declared interim dividends.

Also, analysts at Afrinvest Ltd. said: “We expect investors to take positions in fundamentally sound stocks in the subsequent trading session. Nevertheless, we expect the equities market to close the week in favour of the bears.”

“The equities market closed down today on the back of the losses recorded in most sectors.

“While we expect that investor sentiments would largely be driven by reactions to H1 2020 results in the near term, we reiterate that this may be one of the best periods to pick up some quality names with a medium to long term investment horizon,” analysts at InvestmentOne research explained.