Trading at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), sustained its bearish hold, as sell-off in most bluechip stocks persisted yesterday, causing investors’ wealth to plunge further by N125 billion in three trading days.
Specifically, market capitalisation of listed equities, which opened the week at N13.483 trillion depreciated by N125 billion to close at N13.358 trillion, while the All-share index, which measures the performance of quoted companies slumped by 257.25 points or 0.9 per cent to 27,412.13 from 27,669.38 at which it reopened for trading on Monday.
Yesterday, 17 stocks depreciated in price while 11 constituted the gainers chart. The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which were; Dangote Cement, Red Star Express, Flour Mills Nigeria, Zenith Bank, and Continental Reinsurance.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited, said: “We still maintain our bearish outlook for the rest of the week in the absence of any major catalyst. However, we see opportunities for bargain hunting in stocks with sound fundamentals.”
Market breadth closed negative, with 11 gainers against 17 losers. Aiico Insurance recorded the highest price gain of 9.38 per cent to close at 70 kobo per share. Conoil followed with 6.33 per cent to close at N17.65, while Lasaco Assurance gained 5.88 per cent to close at 36 kobo, per share.
Honeywell Flour Mills rose 5.26 per cent to close at N1.00, and Eterna 1.85 per cent to close at N2.75, per share. On the other hand, Red Star Express led the losers’ chart with 9.85 per cent to close at N4.76 per share.
Continental Reinsurance followed with 9.68 per cent to close at N1.40, and Jaiz Bank 9.52 to close at 38 kobo, per share. Japaul Oil & Maritime Services lost 9.09 per cent to close at 20 kobo, while Mutual Benefits Assurance shed 8.33 per cent to close at 22 kobo, per share.
The total volume traded fell 24.4 per cent to 128.96 million shares, worth N1.18 billion, traded in 3,118 deals. Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings topped the activity chart with 30.90 million shares valued at N162.05 million. Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) followed with 16.03 million shares worth N14.60 million.
FCMB Groups traded 11.04 million shares at N18.67 million.Access Bank traded 9.01 million shares valued at N56.40 million, while Zenith Bank transacted 8.34 million shares worth N148.64 million.
