Losses on Airtel Africa, 14 others cost equities N81bn

Omobayo Azeez

Sell-offs on the stocks of Airtel Africa and 14 other listed companies led to a loss of N81 billion at the close of trading session on the floor of Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday.

The cumulative loss by the 15 decliners outweighed gains on 22 other stocks whose prices per share appreciated to close the session even as the market breadth favoured the bulls.

Consequently, market capitalisation of equities segment of the market shrank by 0.6 percent to close lower at N13.342 trillion from N13.423 it closed on Monday after a loss of N100 billion.

Similarly, the NSE All-Share Index (NSEASI) shed 140 points to settle at 27,407.04 bps, 0.51% lower than the preceding session.

Market observers predicted that the downtrend could persist in the market due to the sentiment of indifference among investors.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited stated that “In line with our expectations, we believe the bearish momentum will persist due to weak investors’ appetite towards the domestic equities market.”

Top gainers of the day include Stanbic IBTC, gaining N2.35 to close at N37.50; OkomuOil with N2.05 to close at N54.98, PZ Cusson with N0.55 profit to close at N6.45 per share. Others include CCNN and NASCON, gaining N0.45 and N0.40 to close at N16.6 and N13.40 respectively.

The declining stocks are Airtel Africa, which gained N31.50 to close at N283.50 per share; Flourmill Plc, declining by N0.50 to close at N13, and NCR that declined by N0.40 to close at N13.40 pee share. Others include CUSTODIAN and Zenith Bank Plc, losing N0.30 each to close at N6 and N18.80 respectively.

The activities of the day was driven mostly banking stocks, including Access Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and Sterling Bank Plc, which traded 57.818 million shares, 19.988 millions shares and 10.372 million shares valued at N434.188 million and N382.225 million and N23.460 million respectively.