Investors lose N3.3bn on profit taking on Nestle, FO

Investors trading on the equities market segment of The Nigeria Stock Exchange lost N3.3 billion following profit-taking in Nestle Nigeria Plc and Forte Oil plc.

As expected, the bears dominated the domestic bourse, dragging the All Share Index lower by 0.36 per cent to close at 26,278.20 basis points from 26,373.83 basis points equities market opened today for trading.

Following today’s negative close, the Year-to-Date loss increased to -2.22 per cent.

The Consumer Goods Index  dropped by 1.52 per cent closed lower, driven by selloffs in 7UP that dropped by five per cent, Guinness Nigeria that decline by 4.27 per cent and Nestle Nigeria Plc that lost 3.67per cent.

The Oil & Gas Index depreciated by 0.32 per cent index equally took a hit, as investors liquidated their positions in Forte Oil that fell by 4.46 per cent and Oando Plc that dropped by 0.21 per cent.

On the bright side, the Banking Index added 0.02 per cent– albeit recording a modest gain – remained resilient, supported by price appreciations in GTBank that gained 0.04 per cent, Access Bank that rose by 1.74 per cent and UBA that added 1.80per cent.

Meanwhile, 3,075 deals which was recorded during the previous trading session was heightened by 14.54 per cent to amount to 3,522 deals traded Tuesday.

Investors also exchanged a total of 371.867 million unit of equities which was 113.71 percent higher than the previous session’s 174.010 million units, while value of equities traded for the day was 45.82 percent more than previous session’s N1.175 billion to N1.714 billion which was recorded for Tuesday.

Investors’ appetite however waned, as market breadth closed negative with 18 gainers to 11 losers. 7up led the day’s declining stocks, with 5 percent to close at N101.65, NEM 4.71 per cent to close at 81 kobo, Nigeria Police Force Micro Finance Bank and A.G. Leventis depreciated 4.55 percent each to close at N1.05 and 84 kobo respectively, while Forte Oil dropped 4.46 per cent to close at N70.30.

On the flip side, Unity Bank led on the gainers table by 5.08 per cent to close at 62 kobo, Diamond Bank followed with an increase of 5.04 per cent to close at N1.25, Vitafoam added 4.89 per cent to close at N2.36, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) grew 4.82 percent to close at N4.35, and FCMB appreciated 4.76 per cent to close at N1.32.

Fidelity Bank topped the activity chart for the day, with the sale of approximately 108 million units of shares worth N99.9 billion. Continental Re-insurance followed with 43.1 million shares worth N47.3 million, while Diamond Bank emerged the third most traded stock for the day with 37.5 million shares amounting to N45.7 million.

Sterling Bank came fourth having traded 25.3 million units of shares valued at N20.4 million while FBN Holdings was fifth with 23.0 million shares worth N84.6 million.

At the time of writing, the naira — in the interbank segment of the market — had depreciated against two of the three currencies we track. The Naira/Pound dropped by 2.56 per cent and Naira/Euro also weakened by 1.10 per cent to N392.18 and N337.98 respectively, while the Naira/Dollar was flat at N305.25.

In the parallel market, the Naira/Pound fell by 0.34 per cent and Naira/Euro depreciate by 0.77 per cent to N597.00 and N521.00 respectively, while the Naira/Dollar was flat at N497.00.