Nigerian equities continue downtrend, lose N32bn in day’s trading

Omobayo Azeez

The equities segment of the Nigerian capital market sustained its bearish run Thursday as investors in the market lost N32 billion at the close of trading. It follows from the N130 billion loss recorded on Wednesday.

Following the development, the key performance indices went down by 0.25 percent as the NSE All Share Index (NSEASI) shed 67.55 points to close at 27,252.09 bps as against the previous value of 27,319.64 bps while the equities market value equally contracted to N13.259 trillion from N13.290 trillion it opened the day with.

The dominant negative sentiment on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) also swept through the turnover of traded shares as trade value and volume fell by 46.76 percent and 22.92 percent respectively.

The downturn was occasioned by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks among which are WAPCO, MTN Nigeria, Dangote Sugar Plc and PZ.

Meanwhile, market breadth closed in favour of the bears with the emergence of 17 losers against 13 gaining stocks and nine others with unchanged share prices at the end of the trading session.

Okomu Oil Palm PLC led the gainers with N2.55 to close at N44.15. Cadbury PLC followed with N0.60 gain and closed at N9.09 while UACN followed suit with N0.50 gain to close at N5.50 per share.

Similarly, Guaranty Trust Bank’s share price appreciated by N0.35 and Forte Oil Plc’s advanced by N0.20 to close at N26.50 and N15.05 respectively.

On the flip side, WAPCO PLC and MTN Nigeria shed N0. 45 each to close at N14.50 and N138.05 respectively while Dangote Sugar and PZ lost N0.30 each to close at N8.50 and N5.60 per share in that order. On the same note, CUSTODIAN Plc followed suit with a loss of N0.20 to close the session lower at N5.80 per share.

Transactions in the shares of Guaranty Trust Bank topped the activity chat with 35 million shares valued at N925.881 million.

This was followed by trades in the shares of First Bank of Nigeria Holdings which recorded a traded volume of 12.22 million share units at N55.06 million while Guinness PLC transacted 10.12 million shares valued at N377.783 million to occupy the third position on the chart.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has reclassified Oando Plc from medium priced stock to low priced stock effective from today (Thursday, September 5, 2019).

According to the local bourse, this is in compliance with Rule 15.29: Pricing Methodology, Rulebook of The Exchange, 2015 (Dealing Members’ Rules).

The exchange recalled in a press statement that Oando dropped below the N5 mark on April 30, 2019, and traded below N5 up till close of business on 30 August 2019.

“Low Priced Stocks are securities that have traded below N5 per share in four out of the last six months period. For upward or downward movements in price to occur on any Low Priced Stock that is priced at below N5 and listed on The NSE, stockbrokers are required to trade a minimum volume of 100,000 units and tick size of N0.01, ” the statement read.