After the one-day public holiday to commemorate Eid-el-Maulud celebration, transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) re-opened on a downturn yesterday, occasioned by renewed sell-off in the shares of some companies in the banking and industrial sectors, as market capitalisation by N93 billion.
Specifically, at the close of transactions yesterday, the All -share index (ASI) was down by 252.45 absolute points, representing a decrease of 0.78 per cent, to close at 31,969.79 points. Similarly, market capitalisation decreased by N93 billion to close at N11.671 trillion.
The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Presco, Dangote Cement, Guaranty Trust Bank, Lafarge Africa and Ecobank Transnational Corporation (Ecobank).
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said that “in line with our expectation, the market closed on a bearish note yesterday, we however do not rule out the possibility of bargain hunting activities in today’s trading session while maintaining our bearish outlook in the near term.”
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Market breadth closed negative, recorded 10 gainers against 22 losers. Mobil recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent, to close at N165, while Prestige Assurance followed with a gain of 9.84 per cent to close at 67 kobo, per share.
Union Diagnostic & Clinical Services and Veritas Kapital Assurance appreciated by 8.70 per cent each to close at 23 kobo, each, while Stanbic IBTC Holding rose by 4.17 per cent to close at N50 per share. On the other hand, Unity Bank led the losers’ chart by 8.60 per cent, to close at 85 kobo, per share. Jaiz Bank followed with a decline of 8.16 per cent to close at 45 kobo, while Lafarge Africa shed 6.2 per cent to close at N15 per share. Presco declined by 6.19 per cent to close at N62.15, while Cadbury Nigeria depreciated by 3.66 per cent, to close at N9.20, per share.
However, the total volume traded appreciated by 60.53 per cent to 237.75 million shares, worth N3.50 billion, and traded in 3,359 deals. Transactions in the shares of Oando topped the activity chart with 58.56 million shares valued at N298.65 million.
Zenith Bank followed with 23.99 million shares worth N577.59 billion, while FCMB Groups traded 21.64 million shares valued at N33.13 million. Guaranty Trust Bank traded 20.83 million shares valued at N759.56 million, while Fidelity Bank transacted 16.14 million shares worth N31.63 million.
Source: G Business
