Investors Lose N136bn In Stock Market

By ABDULKADIR UMORU,

Trading on the floor of The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday continued its bearish run as losses in highly capitalized stocks such as Forte oil, Guaranty Trust Bank, Flourmill Nigeria as well as Zenith Bank Plc further dragged down the market to close in the red territory.

The All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 364.13 basis points or 1.2 per cent to close lower at 30,036.15 points compared with 30, 400.28 points recorded on Monday, while market capitalisation went down by N136 billion or 1.2 per cent to close at N11. 200 trillion from N11.336 trillion it recorded on the previous trading day.

Accordingly, Forte Oil led the decliners’ chart with a loss of 230 kobo to close at N26.55 per share. It was trailed by Presco which went down by 200 kobo to close trading at N62.00 per share, Guaranty Trust Bank shed 185 kobo to close at N32.00 per share, Flour Mill Nigeria declined by 170 kobo to close at N18.00 per share while Zenith Bank
Plc lost 100 kobo to close at N20.30 per share, among others.

On the other hand, Okomu Oil led the gainers’ table with gain of N6.15 to close at N83.75 per share. Followed by the Nigerian Breweries which added 40 kobo to close trading at N78.90 per share, Lafarge Africa Plc gained 35 kobo to close at N11.70, Julius Berger Nigeria appreciated by 20 kobo to close at N23.50 per share, while Union Bank of Nigeria inched 20 kobo to close at N6.00 per share to complete the top five
gainers’ table.

The banking services sector was the investors’ toast with Zenith Bank Plc emerging the most traded stocks, accounting for 32.840 million shares worth N679.772 million, followed by First Bank Holdings with 27.462 million shares valued at N199.303 million, Transnational Corporation sold 26.365 million shares worth N31.154 million, Guaranty
Trust Bank transacted 18.688 million shares valued at N608.010 million while Diamond Bank traded 14.908 million shares worth N28.221 million to the chart for the top five most traded stocks.