Market capitalization sheds 0.46 percent for N9.12tr close
The equities market yesterday further declined at the close of trading as benchmark index plunged by 0.46 percent.
The All-Share Index (ASI) closed at 26,495.04, shedding 121.85 from the previous closing figure of 26,616.89. Market capitalization dropped N41.9 billion to settle at N9.116 trillion.
Investors traded 602.0 million shares valued at N1.2 billion in 2,150 deals, in contrast to 3.4 billion units of shares, worth N3.8 billion exchanged by investors in 2033 deals transacted during the preceding day.
The negative trend showed that most sector indices plummeted except for the NSE Premium index that grew slightly
The index was driven by Zenith Bank that grew 1.04 percent to close at N14.55 per share, and the NSE ASeM index that added 0.57 percent driven by a 1.19 percent growth of Omoluabi Savings Banks to close at 85 kobo per share.
The Banking index recorded the highest decline of 1.6 percent on the back of falling share prices of Guaranty, ETI, Wema, and Stanbic.
Other sectoral decliners were the NSE 30 and the Insurance and Pension Index that fell 0.6 percent each, while the Oil and Gas dropped 0.5 percent as Oando, Forte Oil recorded losses of 3.80 and 0.74 percent, respectively.
The market recorded 14 gainers against 17 losers at the close of trade. Vitafoam emerged the highest gainer by 4.96 percent to settle at N2.54, followed by Livestock Feeds as it appreciated 4.76 percent to close at 88 kobo, and UAC-Property that gained 4.73 percent to close at N2.88.
Africa Prudential Registrars increased 3.09 percent to close at N3, while UCAP also grew 2.85 percent to close at N2.89.
Ashaka Cement led the decliners table with 4.91 percent to close at N11.43. Guaranty Trust Bank followed with a loss of 4.58 percent to close at N22.90, while Diamond Bank fell 4.44 percent to close at 86 kobo.
Cement Company of Northern Nigeria depreciated 4.21 percent to close at N4.55, and Oando plunged 3.80 percent to close at N4.30.
Top traded stocks were Unity Kapital Assurance with 436 million units of shares valued at N335.7 million. Omoluabi Savings and Loans followed with 104 million shares valued at N83.3 million while UBA traded 9.2 million shares worth N41.7 million.
UCAP traded 6.7 million shares for N19.4 million and Guaranty emerged the fifth most traded stock with 5.2 million shares worth N120.6 million.
Meanwhile, Investors have reacted positively to the release of Vitafoam Nigeria’s full year 2016 results on Tuesday, as the stock recorded the highest percentage appreciation of 4.96 percent to settle at N2.54 per share.
Vitafoam Nigeria had announced a loss after tax of N32 million for its financial year ended 30th September 2016, reducing its losses by 55.5 percent from N72 million recorded as loss after tax for the same period of 2015.
The company’s results also showed that profit before tax dropped 71.3 percent to N61.2 million from N213.1 million recorded for 2015 financial year, while a revenue of N13.6 billion was posted for the 2016 year, representing a decrease of 19.5 percent from N16.9 billion recorded in the previous year.
