Investors lose N35 billion to profit taking on NSE

Equities trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) resumed the week on a bearish note as investors engaged in profit taking activities leading to market capitalization loss of N35 billion.

This follows a growth of 0.90 percent recorded at the equities market last week amidst improved market sentiments, as investors transacted 245.4 million units of shares valued at N2.3 billion in 3,260 deals as against 216 million units worth N2.2 billion traded in 3191 deals previously.

The Market cap on Monday thus closed at N8.699 trillion, 0.40 percent lower than its opening figure of N8.734 trillion while the All Share Index also lost 0.40 percent or 101.38 points to close at 25,136.63 points.

Biggest losers for the day include Forte Oil with a loss of 4.99 percent to close at N49.09 per share, it was trailed by Livestock Feeds which shed 4.48 percent each to close at 64 kobo per share, NEM Insurance was next with a decline of 4.40 percent to close at N87 per share, Sterling Bank dropped 4.11 percent to close at 70 kobo per share, while AIICO lost 3.39 percent to close at 57 kobo per share.

Mobil, Stanbic, Oando and Transcorp were also listed on the losers chart having dropped 1.75, 1.59, 1.57, and 2.39 percent respectively as FCMB, Dangote Cement and Vitafoam also shed 0.83,0.62 and 0.52 percent each.

The day’s biggest gainers were led by United Capital which rose 6.20 percent to close at N2.57 per share, Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) followed with a growth of 4.93 percent to close at N4.90 per share, Eco Transnational Incorporated (ETI) also added 4.69 percent to close at N10.50 per share. Axa Mansard and UACN closed 4.64 percent and 4.09 percent higher to close at N1.58 and N13.74 per share respectively.

Other gainers were Africa Prudential Registrars (+3.95%), Diamond Bank (+3.70), Guinness (+2.98), Total (+2.94), FBN Holdings (+2.68), Zenith Bank (+2.23) and Guaranty Trust Bank (2.04%)
Top traded stocks for the day were Diamond Bank with N50.5 million shares worth N40.97 million, FBN Holdings was next with 13.2 million shares valued at N39.7 million while Fidelity Bank emerged the third most traded stock with 9.6 million units of shares worth N7.8 million.

Access Bank and Zenith Bank also made it to the top five traded stocks for the day, having transacted 8.4 million and 7.2 million units of shares each, worth N56.6 million and N95.3 million respectively.