Investors lose N57bn as bears take centre stage

By Omobayo Azeez

This loss led to  t0.44 depreciation in market index as the All- Share Index (ASI) shed 117.28 points to close at 26,456.39 basis points while market capitalization closed lower at N12.822 trillion from N12.879 is opened the four-day trading week.

Consequently, the loss of the day which was on account of investors’ sell-offs Dangote Cement and Guaranty stocks worsened the month-to-date and year-to-date returns -4.67 per cent and -16.20 per cent respectively.

However, market turnover was in the green territory as volume and value of trade soared by 61.38 per cent and 55.3 per cent respectively as 610.58 million share units worth NGN11.10 billion exchanged in 5,031 deals.

On sector performances, all sector indices closed in the negative zone, except banking index which appreciated by 0.11 per cent, supported by interest in some tier-1 banking names.

Notably, the oil and gas, insurance, industrial goods and consumer goods declined by -2.98 per cent, -1.01 per cent, -0.95 per cent and -0.40 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, market sentiment as measured by market breadth, was negative as 14 tickers recorded declines relative to 13 gainers and 11 others that closed on flat prices.

Guinness Plc and Zenith Bank Plc led gainers with N0.40 each to close at N23.70 and N17.80 per share respectively. Access Bank gained N0.30 to close at N9.85 per share while First Bank of Nigerian Holding and Vitafoam each added N0.10 to close at N5.70 and N3.65 per share respectively.

On the contrary, Total Plc led the chart of decliners with N12.30 loss to close at N110.90. Unilever followed with N2.20 loss to close at N145 per share while GUARANTY and PZ Cusson lost N0.70 and N0.55 to close at N28 and N5 respectively.

The day’s statistics from the Nigerian Stock Exchange showed that the day’s turnover was led by Zenith with 336.617 million shares worth N5.794 billion traded in  632 trades.

The Nigerian Breweries trailed with a total of 63.836 million shares valued at N3.01 billion in 72 transactions and Access Bank occupied the third place with a total of 73.797 million shares worth N174.2 million that exchanged hands in 430.