The bears sustained dominance at the end of transactions on the equities sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), yesterday, occasioned by price losses in most blue-chip stocks, resulting to a further decline in the All-Share Index by 0.35 percent. Specifically, at the close of transactions, the ASI decreased by 93.23 absolute points, or 0.35 percent to close at 26,790.10 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation lost N45 billion and closed at N12.930 trillion.
The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Cadbury Nigeria, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria, FBN Holdings, Dangote Cement, and UAC of Nigeria. Analyst attributed the drop in indices to profit taking embarked upon by investors on the NSE.
Precisely, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Consulting Limited, Ambrose Omordion, said: “We expect the intraday oscillation to continue on profit-taking and implication of MPC outcome on the capital wave, and repositioning in value stocks will persist. “The changing sentiments in expectation of improved liquidity as interest rates drop in the money market had triggered buying interest in stocks regardless of a high risk that is associated with investing in equities.”He said the current undervalued state of the market offers investors opportunities to position for short and medium-to-long-term views.
Market breadth was negative, with 19 gainers versus 26 losers. AG Leventis & Company and Livestock Feeds recorded the highest price gain of 10 percent, each, to close at 33 kobo and 55 kobo, respectively.
Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals followed with 8.96 percent to close at 73 kobo per share. Wapic Insurance rose 8.57 per cent to close at 38 kobo, and Cutix 8.27 percent to close at N1.44, per share.
On the other hand, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance led the losers’ chart with 10 percent to close at 36 kobo per share. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria followed with 9.52 percent to close at N5.70 per share.Oando dropped 9.09 percent to close at N3.50, per share.
Union Diagnostic and Clinical Services 8.33 per cent to close at 22 kobo, while Cadbury Nigeria shed 8.16 per cent to close at N9.00, per share.
Meanwhile, total volume traded dipped by 9.58 per cent to 189.86 million shares worth N1.48 billion, traded in 3,410 deals. Transactions in the shares of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) topped the activity chart with 26.35 million shares valued at N26.58 million. Zenith Bank followed with 22.51 million shares worth N416.44 million, while Chams traded 18.92 million shares at N7.84 million.Fidelity Bank traded 11.11 million shares valued at N22.20 million, while FBN Holdings transacted 10.53 million shares worth N69.998 million.
