Stock market halts gaining streak, sheds N181bn

The gaining streak of the stock market was halted on Tuesday as profit taking dragged the market 1.18 per cent lower.

Investors recorded a loss of N181bn as the market capitalisation of equities declined from N15.287tn on Monday to N15.106tn on Tuesday.

Activity level ended mixed as volume traded increased by 91.5 per cent to 666.78m units while value traded declined by 23.8 per cent to N6.52bn.

The most active stocks by volume were Union Diagnostic and Medical Services Plc (340.2 million units), Zenith Bank Plc (69.7 million units) and United Bank for Africa Plc (38.8 million units) while MTN Nigeria (N1.5bn), Zenith Bank (N1.5bn) and Dangote Cement (N848.5m) led by value.

Performance across sectors was bearish as all indices lost.

The insurance and consumer goods indices depreciated by 2.03 per cent and 1.65 per cent respectively following sell-offs in NEM Insurance Plc, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc and Nigerian Breweries Plc.

The banking index depreciated by 1.07 per cent on the back of losses in UBA and Zenith Bank.

Major price depreciation in Dangote Cement and Oando dragged the industrial goods and oil & gas indices down by 0.29 per cent and 0.19 per cent respectively.

Investor sentiment strengthened as market breadth (advance/decline ratio) waned to 0.6x from the 0.7x recorded on Monday as 13 stocks gained relative to 23 losers.

The top gainers were Beta Glass Plc, C & I Leasing Plc, Ekocorp Plc, Forte Oil Plc and Cadbury Nigeria Plc, which gained 9.7 per cent, 8.9 per cent, 7.2 per cent, 5.6 per cent and 5.3 per cent respectively.

The top five losers were Tourist Company of Nigeria Plc, NEM Insurance, NPF Microfinance Bank Plc, Consolidated Hallmark and Nigerian Breweries Plc, whose respective share prices shed 10 per cent, 9.7 per cent, 9.6 per cent, 9.5 per cent and 8.8 per cent.

“We anticipate a mixed performance in the interim due to profit taking,” analysts at Afrinvest said.