Sell-off persists in equities as investors lose N84bn

By Omobayo Azeez

Investors sustained their aggressive desires to sell off shares on Tuesday and in the face of dwindling interests in the equities market, investors lost N84 billion which represent 0.71 per cent of aggregate value of the equity market.

Amidst increased market turnover and participations, the loss was significantly underpinned by sell-off of stocks of Dangote cement which plunged by -10 per cent.

Consequently, Month-to-Date (MtD) and Year-to-Date (MtD) losses worsened to -14.0 per  cent and -16.0 per cent respectively.

 The volume and value traded closed on a positive lane as they appreciated by 22.56 per cent and 40.04 per cent respectively, while market breadth followed suit gainers outnumbered decliners in the 27 to 12.

 The gainers team was led by Nigerian Breweries plc with N2.05 gain to close at N30. MTN Nigeria trailed with N1.90 to close at N95 per share.

WAPCO, STanbic and Zenith Bank added N1, N0.95 and N0.70 to close at N11, N30.25 and N13.50 per share respectively.

The decliners were Dangote Cement with N15.30 loss to close at N137.70 per share. CAP Plc followed with N1.95 to close at N18.

Others are ARDOVA, NASCON and INTBREW with N1.50, N0.95 and N0.55 losses to close at N13.80, N8.55 and N5.20 per share respectively.

Activities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) during the session were mostly driven by Zenith Bank which moved 173.93 million shares worth N2.319 billion; GUARANTY with 131.064 million at N2.572 billion and FBNH with 119.268 million valued at N478,913 million.

Stock that recorded highest turnover are GUARANTY, ZenithBank and Nestle, with 849,609 shares worth N745.38 million.

The day closed with a total of 675.911 million shares worth N8.059 billion traded in 7,368 deals in contrast with 551.483 million shares valued at N5.755 billion that exchanged hands in 6,981 transactions in the previous session.