Nigerian equities reopen with N340b loss

NIGERIAN equities reopened with a streak of profit-taking as investors sought to monetise their capital gains, yesterday.

With investors opening up market orders to close their deals, the market closed with average decline of 1.66 per cent, equivalent to net capital depreciation of N340 billion.

All Share Index (ASI) – the common value-based index that tracks all share prices at Nigerian Exchange (NGX) – dropped by 648.99 absolute points or 1.66 per cent to close at 38,507.29 points as against its opening index of 39,156.28 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also dropped from its opening value of N20.409 trillion to close at N20.069 trillion. With 26 decliners to 19 advancers, the negative overall market situation was driven by widespread selloffs due to profit-taking, especially in lager and mid-cap stocks such as Airtel Africa, Okomu Oil Palm, Presco, Stanbic IBTC Holdings and Guaranty Trust Bank.

Airtel Africa led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N753.30. Okomu Oil Palm followed with a decline of 9.44 per cent to close at N105.50. Cornerstone Insurance shed 9.09 per cent to close at 50 kobo per share. Learn Africa lost eight per cent to close at 92 kobo while Livestock Feeds shed 4.74 per cent to close at N1.81 per share.

On the positive side, CWG Plc recorded the highest price gain of 9.73 per cent to close at N1.24 per share. Berger Paints Nigeria followed with a gain 6.72 per cent to close at N7.15. Red Star Express rose by 4.19 per cent to close at N3.23, per share. NEM Insurance rose by 3.89 per cent to close at N1.87 while WAPIC Insurance gained 3.64 per cent to close at 57 kobo per share.

Total turnover rose by 2.9 per cent to 297.346 million shares valued at N3.650 billion in 4,402 deals. Access Bank topped the activity chart with 43.139 million shares valued at N359.541 million. Sterling Bank followed with 33.208 million shares worth N52.131 million. Zenith Bank traded 25.903 million shares valued at N602.184 million. UAC of Nigeria (UACN) traded 22.925 million shares valued at N216.792 million while Union Homes Real Estate Investment Trust transacted 19.013 million shares worth N695.876 million.

Analysts at United Capital expected the equities market to record some negative performance as investors book some of their profits off the market.

“In the next trading session, we expect the market to sustain its bearish performance as investors take profit,” Afrinvest Securities stated.