Investors’ profit-taking in Dangote Cement Plc and 30 others stocks on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) depreciated market capitalisation by N550.62billion in first day trading this week.
The market capitalisation of the NGX that opened for trading at N27.914 trillion dropped by 1.92per cent or N550.62billion to close trading yesterday at N27.363trillion.
Consequently, the NGX All Share Index (ASI) decreased by 1,021.34 basis points or 1.97 per cent to close at 50,756.74 basis points from 51,778.08 basis points when the stock market opened for trading.
The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Dangote Cement, Flour Mills of Nigeria, Lafarge Africa, Fidson Healthcare and FBN Holdings (FBNH).
However, sector performances were negative as the Industrial index depreciated by 5.27per cent, Consumer Goods Index down by 1.16 per cent and Oil and Gas Index also fell by 0.23 per cent, while the Banking Index gained 0.35 per cent to close in green zone.
Market breadth closed negative, with 31 losers versus seven gainers. Jaiz Bank recorded the highest price gain of 5.32 per cent, to close at 99 kobo, per share. Regency Alliance Insurance followed with a gain of 3.70 per cent to close at 28 kobo, while Japaul Gold and Ventures appreciated by 3.33 per cent to close at 31 kobo, per share.
Zenith Bank went up by 2.80 per cent to close at N22.00, while Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) appreciated by 2.63 per cent to close at N7.80, per share. On the other hand, Dangote Cement and Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) led the losers’ chart by 10.00 per cent each to close at N249.30 and N5.40 respectively, while Livestock Feeds followed with a decline of 9.77 per cent to close at N1.20, per share.
International Breweries lost 9.60 per cent to close at N5.65, while Flour Mills of Nigeria shed 8.57 per cent to close at N32.00, per share.
However, the total volume traded rose 43.04 per cent to 345.005 million shares, worth N3.073 billion, and traded in 5,075 deals.
Transactions in the shares of FCMB Group topped the activity chart with 177.592 million shares valued at N668.970 million. United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with 29.499 million shares worth N221.187 million, while Access Holdings traded 21.965 million shares valued at N206.365 million.
FBNH traded 12.574 million shares valued at N113.966 million, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) transacted 11.565 million shares worth N14.334 million.
According to analysts at InvestmentOne research, “The equities market closed negative today due to the losses recorded in the Industrial, Consumer Goods and Oil/Gas sectors.
“Going forward, we expect investor’s sentiments to be swayed by the search for real positive returns and developments in the interest rate space. We reiterate that this may be a great period to pick up some quality names with a medium to long-term investment horizon.”
Thisday