Equities Market Extends Downtrend By N49bn

Samuel Mobolaji

Following losses suffered by many bluechip stocks, especially Nigerian Breweries (NB) and MTN Nigeria (MTNN), negative sentiments persisted on the equities sector of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) yesterday, as market capitalisation depreciated further by N49 billion.

The All-Share Index (ASI) fell by 88.71 points, representing a decline of 0.17 per cent to close at 52,207.77 points. Accordingly, investors lost N49 billion in value as market capitalisation declined to N28.427 trillion.

The downturn was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are Nigerian Breweries, MTNN, Nigerian Exchange Group Group, Union Bank of Nigeria and Fidson Healthcare.

Analysts at Vetiva Dealings and Brokerage said, “we still expect mixed trading to continue, as investors move in and out of these stocks, amid banking sector dominating market activity partly fueled by dividend re-investment.”

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, as 22 stocks gained relative to 18 losers. Ardova emerged the highest price gainer of 9.25 per cent to close at N18.30 kobo, per share. Academy press followed with a gain of 8.90 kobo to close at N1.59 kobo, while Cutix advanced by 8.89 per cent to close at N2.45 kobo.

RTBriscoe increased by 8.33 per cent to close at 26 kobo, while Linkage Assurance added 8.16 per cent to close at 53 kobo. On the other side, Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) led others on the losers chart with 9.49 per cent to close at N2.29 kobo, per share. International Energy Assurance followed with 8.87 per cent to close at N1.13 kobo, while Union Bank shed 7.79 per cent to close at N7.10 kobo.

First City Monument Bank lost 7.28 per cent to close at N3.95 kobo, while Nigerian Breweries depreciated by 6.14 per cent to close at N32.85 kobo.

The total volume of trades increased by 21.8 per cent to 670.08 million units, valued at NGN5.03 billion, and exchanged in 6,254 deals. Transactions in the shares of Transcorp led the activity with 276.526 million shares worth N631.305 million, Access Holdings followed with account of 174.397 million shares valued at N1.805 billion, while Fidelity Bank traded 31.411 million shares valued at N175.218 million.

Chams Holdings traded 17.954 million shares worth N5.921 million, while Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) traded 15.880 million shares worth N365.207 million.