Stock market sustains sliding profile, down by N54 billion

FOLLOWING price losses suffered by many blue chip stocks, transactions on the equities sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), reopened bearish on Monday, causing market capitalisation to depreciate further by N54 billion.

Specifically, at the close of transactions yesterday, the All-share index (ASI) fell by 110.81 points or 0.40 per cent to 27,808.69 points. Similarly, investors lost N54 billion in value as market capitalisation declined to N13.553 trillion.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which were; Nigerian Breweries, MTN Nigeria, NASCON Allied Industries (NASCON), C&I Leasing, and Flour Mills Nigeria.

Analysts at APT Securities and Funds Limited, said: “We retain our cautious trading advice in the short run. However, accumulation of fundamentally justified and dividend paying stocks for mid to long term is recommended.”

Market breadth closed negative, 14 stocks posted gains while 19 experienced a decline. Africa Prudential recorded the highest price gain of 8.82 per cent to close at N3.70 per share. United Bank for Africa (UBA)

followed with 8.18 per cent to close at N5.95, while Ikeja Hotel gained 6.57 per cent to close at N1.46, per share.

Sovereign Trust Insurance rose 4.76 per cent to close at 22 kobo, while UAC of Nigeria (UACN) appreciated 3.70 per cent to close at N5.60, per share.

On the other hand, NASCON led the losers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N13.50 per share.

Consolidated Hallmark Insurance lost 9.68 per cent to close at 28 kobo, while Linkage Assurance fell 9.38 to close at 58 kobo, per share. C&I Leasing lost 8.08 per cent to close at N4.55, and Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) 6.86 per cent to close at 95 kobo, per share.

The total volume traded rose by 6.49 per cent to 285.76 million shares, worth N2.24 billion, traded in 3,887 deals. Transactions in the shares of Courteville Business Solutions topped the activity chart with 49.79 million shares valued at N9.97 million. Sterling Bank followed with 46.02 million shares worth N104.47 million, while UBA traded 33.84 million shares at N191.66 million.

Transcorp traded 31.13 million shares valued at N30.25 million, while Zenith Bank transacted 16.01 million shares worth N295.80 million.