Equities relapse with N125b loss while new windows open

        

After two consecutive positive trading sessions, Nigerian equities suffered a major relapse on Tuesday as investors sought to re-balance their portfolios and reevaluate their considerations. With nearly three losers to every gainer, equities recorded a net capital loss of N125 billion within the five-hour trading session. It was the largest day-on-day decline in the past seven weeks.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) slumped to N12.789 trillion as against its opening value of N12.914 trillion. The All Share Index –the benchmark index that tracks share prices at the Exchange, also declined by 0.96 per cent to close at 36,953.41 points to close at 37,312.28 points.  The average year-to-date return for Nigerian equities slipped to 37.50 per cent.

With 32 losers to 12 gainers, sectoral indices underlined the market-wide decline in share prices. The NSE Industrial Goods Index and NSE Banking Index dipped by 1.4 per cent each. The NSE Consumer Goods Index also recorded above-average decline of 1.3 per cent while the NSE Insurance Index dropped by 0.1 per cent. However, the Oil & Gas Index was the only contrarian index with a marginal gain of 0.1 per cent.

Nestle Nigeria led the losers with a loss of N40 to close at N1,250. Guinness Nigeria followed with a drop of N2.01 to close at N100. Unilever Nigeria dropped by N2 to close at N38. Lafarge Africa and Dangote Cement lost N1.45 each to close at N50 and N236.55 while Zenith Bank declined by N1.16 to close at N23.68. On the positive side, Flour Mills of Nigeria led the gainers with a gain of 89 kobo to close at N34.89. Nigerian Breweries followed with a gain of 77 kobo to close at N139.75. Forte Oil rose by 65 kobo to close at N48.62 while Okomu Oil Palm added 21 kobo to close at N68.20 per share.

Total turnover stood at 238.36 million shares valued at N3.42 billion in 4,238 deals. The most active stock was FBN Holdings, which traded 75.8 million shares valued at N541.28 million.

“Following the day’s unprecedented loss, we expect bargain hunting to drag market performance positive in subsequent trading sessions,” Afrinvest Securities stated.