March Opens With N208bn Dip In Investors Fund

ISMAIL MUSA

Trading session of March commenced Monday on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) with N208 slash from investment value of investors.

The domestic equities market continued its downward spiral, as the benchmark index plummeted by -1.53 per cent to 25,816.57 points, following investors’ sell-off of Consumer Goods and Banking stocks.

Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses settled at -1.53 per cent and -3.82 per cent respectively.

Equities market capitalisation Monday declined by N208.3 billion to close the day at N13, 449,282 trillion, having opened the day at N13, 657,605 trillion.

Market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was negative by 0.3x, as 27 tickers declined, relative to 93 gainers.

Meanwhile, as the trend for the bearish trend has opened the week, the market appears headed for six straight weeks of bearish trade, should the first week in March close in red.

Amidst declines, NESTLE emerged the most active stock Monday with N113 or 10.00 per cent dip , closing trade at N1017            per share, followed by CAP with N2.245 or 9.96 per cent depreciation, to close at N22.15 per share, while WAPCO closed lower at N15.95 per share , having declined by N1.55 or 10.00 per cent.

UNILEVER, as the fourth highest loser, dropped by N1.5 or 10.00 per cent, ending the day at N13.5 per share, while GUARANTY closed the top five losers chart with N1.1 or 4.62 per cent dip, ending the day at N22.7 per share.

GUARANTY was the most active stock with turnover of 93,694,470 million shares, worth N2, 138,658,428.95 billion. ZENITHBANK followed with 44,186,887 million shares, worth N798, 453,281.65 million, while UBA as the third most active, polled 18,386,675million shares, valued N121, 258,929.00 million.

FIDELITYBK placed fourth in the activity chart Monday, with 17,661,601 million shares, worth N32, 268,851.35 million, while FBNH closed the top five active stocks chart group with turnover of 16,763,899 million shares, worth N79, 074,023.70 million.

On sector performance, losses in the NSE Consumer Goods index dipped by -5.19 per cent, Banking by -3.66 per cent, Industrial Goods  by -1.22 per cent, and Oil and Gas by -0.35 per cent loses, masked the gain recorded in the NSE insurance index which rose by 0.30 per cent.

Top gainer Monday, AFRIPRUD gained N0.15 or 3.19 per cent, closing at N4.85 per share, followed by ETERNA which rose by N0.11 or 5.53 per cent, to close trade at N2.1 per share, while LAWUNION as the third best gainer, added N0.09 or 10.00 per cent, ending trade at N0.99 per share.

FCMB, fourth best gainer rose by N0.09 or 5.26 per cent, closing at N1.8 per share,as AIICO closed the top five gainers chart with N0.06 or 7.76 per cent, to close the day at N0.83 per share.