Equities market commences weekly trading with N38bn investors profit-taking

The equities market of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday commenced trading for the week with N38bn investors profit-taking on listed blue-chip stocks.

The market capitalisation which opened at N12.951 trillion dropped by 0.30 per cent to close at N12.913 trillion, while All-Share Index (ASI) dipped 72.83 basis points to close at 24,753.92 basis points compared with 24,826.75 basis points achieved on Friday.

Analysing by sectors, the Industrial Goods (-1.5 per cent), Insurance (-0.9 per cent), Banking (-0.6 per cent), and Oil and Gas (-0.5 per cent) indices declined, as the Consumer Goods (+2.1 per cent) index recorded the sole gain of the day.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Nigerian Breweries, BUA Cement, Ardova and Flour Mills.

On market performance, analysts at United Capital said: “This week, we expect a tepid performance at the equity market, as investors continue to soft-pedal on the stock ahead of half-year results.”

Also, analysts at Investmentone Research said, The equities market closed negatively today on the back of the losses across the sectors.

“Although market sentiments have tilted positive over the past few weeks, we retain our stance that this may be one of the best periods to pick up some quality names with a medium to long term horizon.

“We urge our clients to be cautious and only take positions in fundamental names.”

Market breadth closed negative with 11 gainers compared with 26 laggards.

Neimeth led the losers’ chart in percentage terms, dropping 9.74 per cent, to close at N1.39 per share. Cutix followed with a loss of 9.09 per cent to close at N1.60 per share.

Honeywell and Stanbic IBTC Holdings dipped 8.33 per cent each to close at 99k and N30.25 per share, respectively.

Chams declined by eight per cent to close at 23k, per share.

Conversely, Japaul Oil led the gainers’ table in percentage terms, gaining 8.70 per cent, to close at 25k, per share. Nestle trailed with 7.72 per cent to close at N1,179, while Fidson appreciated by 7.49 per cent to close at N3.30, per share.

Sterling Bank garnered 6.67 per cent to close at N1.28, while Unity Bank appreciated by 5.26 per cent to close at 60k, per share.

Also, the total volume of shares transacted decreased by 28.62 per cent to 124.69 million shares, worth N1.32 billion, exchanged in 3,843 deals.

This was against a turnover of 174.68 million shares valued at N2.01 billion achieved in 3,695 deals on Friday.

Transactions in the shares of Japaul Oil dominated the activity chart with 13.61 million shares worth N3.30 million. Guaranty Trust Bank came second with 11.35 million shares valued at N260.47 million, while Zenith Bank traded 10.43 million shares valued at N168.81 million.

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United Bank for Africa (UBA) sold 7.97 million shares worth N50.48 million, while Chams transacted 7.86 million shares worth N1.85 million.