Sell-offs in MTN Nigeria, other shares down ASI by 0.25%

Motolani Oseni

Sell-offs in MTN Nigeria, Lafarge Wapco shares, others on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) down the All-Share Index (ASI) by 0.25 per cent in the yesterday trading session.

The All Share Index (ASI) decreased by 0.25 per cent or 67.55 basis points to close yesterday at 27,252.09 basis points as against 27,319.64 basis points it opened for trading.

Similarly, the market capitalisation lost N32.86 billion or 0.25 per cent to close on Thursday at N 13.258 trillion from N13.290 trillion it opened trading.

Market breadth was negative, with 13 gainers in contrast with 17 losers while Year-till-Date (YTD) loss declined to 13.2 per cent.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said, “We expect the bearish trend to persist, although we believe there are opportunities for bargain hunting in the equities market.”

However, the activity level waned as volume and value traded fell 46.8 per cent and 24.8 per cent to 133.3million units and N2.4 billion respectively.

Guaranty Trust Bank (35 million units) FBN Holdings (12.2 million units) and Guinness (10.1 million units) led the top traded stocks by volume while Guaranty Trust Bank (N925.9 million), MTN Nigeria (N579.5 million) and Guinness (N377.8 million) were the top traded stocks by value.

The Industrial Goods index led the laggards that shed 0.7 per cent due to sell-offs in Lafarge Wapco (three per cent).

Banking and Consumer Goods indices followed suit, down 0.2 per cent apiece as Stanbic (2.6 per cent), Access Bank (2.3 per cent), Dangote Sugar (3.4 per cent) and PZ Cusson (5.1 per cent) recorded losses. In the same vein, the AFRI-ICT index lost 0.2 per cent following price depreciation in MTN Nigeria (0.3 per cent).

On the flip side, the Oil & Gas index emerged lone gainer, up 0.1 per cent as investors sought bargains in Forte Oil (1.4 per cent) while the Insurance index closed flat.

A breakdown of the gainers’ table showed that UAC Property Development Company topped with 9 kobo gain to close at 99 kobo per share. UAC of Nigeria came second with 50 kobo to close at N5.50 per share, while Cadbury Nigeria garnered 60 kobo to close at N9.90 per share.

Okomu Oil Palm Company improved by N2.55 to close at N44.15 and Nigerian Aviation Handling Company gained 15 kobo to close at N2.60 per share.

Conversely, Ikeja Hotel recorded the highest loss, dropping by N0.12 to close at N1.17 per share. It was followed by Honeywell Flour Mills which lost N0.07 to close at N0.92 per share, while PZ Cusson lost 30 kobo to close at N5.60 per share.

Fidelity Bank dropped six kobo to close at N1.54 per share and Lasaco Assurance lost one kobo to close at N0.27 per share.