Investors in equities on NSE lose N210bn in two days

The equities market of The Nigerian Stock Exchange in two days trading depreciated by N210 billion attributable to investors profit-taking.

The market capitalization of the equities market opened on Monday at N9.28 trillion, down by N210 billion or 2.26 per cent to close on Tuesday at N9.08 trillion.

Similarly, The Exchange benchmark indicator, the All-Share Index (ASI) fell by 617.33 basis points or 2.28 per cent from 26,981.60 basis points to 26,364.27 basis points the equities market closed today.

At the end of market Tuesday trading, ASI weakened by 523.37 basis points to close at 26,364.27 basis points from 26,887.54 basis points.

Sell pressure on Dangote Cement Plc shares that dropped by 4.88 per cent; Lafarge Wapco lost 4.99 per cent and Guaranty Trust fell by 2.10 per cent largely accounted for today’s decline in equities market.

Market turnover however strengthened as investors exchanged over 189 million shares valued at N1.60 billion. This represented over 64 per cent and 38 per cent improvement in volume and value turnover respectively.

With the exception of the Consumer Goods tracker (0.52 per cent), other sectoral indices closed negative.

The Banking tracker was down by 1.22 per cent dragged by declines in both Guaranty Bank Plc and Zenith Bank while the Industrial tracker fell by 4.47per cent following sell-off in Dangote Cement Plc and Lafarge Wapco.

There were 13 gainers’ led by Glaxosmith that gained five per cent from N15 to N15.75 as against 26 decliners topped by Champion that dropped by 9.47 per cent from N2.64 to N2.39.

Going forward, market analysts said the negative trend in the ASI persisting as weak economic environment and bearish investor’s sentiment continue to drag equities’ performance.

The Naira gained 14.72 per cent against the Dollar at the interbank market to settle at N305.27/$. It also firmed by 0.47 per cent and 0.13 per cent against the Pound and Euro to berth at N391.42 and N347.88 respectively.

At the parallel market, the Naira gained N5 against the Dollar to end today’s session at N465.It was however mixed against the Pound and Euro, losing N5 against the Pound while closing flat against the Euro to berth at N565 and N510 respectively.