By ADEBISI ADEMOLA
Profit-taking in five premium stocks and 17 others depreciated the equities market by 0.04 per cent on Tuesday to extend downtrend to three consecutive trading days.
The companies on the premium board are United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), Zenith Bank Plc, Access bank Plc Lafarge Africa Plc and Seplat Petroleum Incorporated.
The share price of UBA depreciated by N0.10 or 1.03 per cent to close on Tuesday at N9.60 from N9.70 while Zenith Bank recorded N0.20 or 0.84 per cent drop in share price to N23.75 from N23.95 per share it opened for trading.
Others are, Access Bank with N0.05 or 0.50 per cent drop in share price to N10.00 from N10.05; Lafarge Africa with N0.60 or 1.97 per cent fall in share price to N29.90 from N30.50 and Seplat Petroleum Incorporated, moving to N650 per share from N710, translating into N60.00 or 8.45 per cent loss in share price.
Other key losers on Tuesday include Guaranty Trust Bank that depreciated by N0.85 or 2.13 per cent to N 39.15 from N40.00 and Forte Oil Plc that slipped by N0.55 or 2.34 per cent to N23.00 from N23.55 per share
,With profit-taking in the above companies, the Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index (NSE ASI) was down by 145.62 basis points, representing a dip of 0.40per cent, closing at 36,333.80 basis points on Tuesday from 36,479.42 basis points it had opened for trading .
In terms of value, the market capitalisation, decreased by N53.16 billion, representing a dip of 0.40per cent, closing at N13.262 trillion from N 13.315 trillion it closed on Monday.
As a result, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses increased further to -1.85per cent and -4.99per cent, respectively.
Considering indices, the NSE Oil & Gas Index dropped by 2.39 per cent to 304.07basis points to top index loser, following profit taking in Seplat Petroleum shares.
Selloffs in the shares of Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust bank Plc, dragged NSE banking index was down by 1.08 per cent to 460.60 basis points while profit-taking in Wapco and Mutual benefit Insurance Plc depreciated NSE Insurance Index by 0.93 per cent to 145.66 basis points.
In addition, NSE Industrial Goods Index was down by 0.78per cent to 1,791.90 basis points on Tuesday from 1,808.73 basis points it had opened for trading.
Meanwhile, the Consumer Goods Index rose by 0.63per cent turned positive, owing to interest in Nigerian Breweries that appreciated by 2.08per or N2.10 per shares to N103.00.
Market breadth turned positive, with 22 gainers and 21 losers, led by Air service Plc (+10.00per cent) and CAP Plc (-10.00per cent) shares, respectively.
Total volume of trades on the equities market of NSE rose by 36.07per cent to 248.05 million units, valued at N2.25 billion, and exchanged in 3,932 deals.
Analysts at Cordros Capital said, “Our outlook for equities in the short to medium term remain conservative, amidst brewing political concerns, and the absence of a one-off positive trigger. However, stable macroeconomic fundamentals remain supportive of recovery in the long term.”
Comments are closed.