Nigeria equities market maintains bearish posture, down N146bn Tuesday

 

The Nigerian equities market on Tuesday sustained bearish outing for the second day running with sell-offs in 28 stocks.

Consequently, the All-Share Index closed southwards, dropping by 298.04 points or 1.08 per cent to close at 27,352.24 against 27,650.28 achieved on Monday.

Also, investors’ networth dipped N146 billion in value, as the market capitalisation closed lower at N13.314 trillion in contrast with N13.460 trillion on Monday.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Mobil Nigeria, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Cadbury Nigeria, MTN Nigeria and Guaranty Trust Bank.

“We maintain a bearish outlook on the equities market in the next trading sessions as investor sentiment remains weaken,” analysts at Afrinvest Limited said.

Also, Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Consulting Ltd, said that the outlook for stock market remained mixed with the expected profit-taking, as investors positioned  ahead of the quarter-end.

Omordion said that bargain hunters should take advantage of low stock prices to position ahead of price rally.

Market breadth closed negative, with six gainers versus 28 losers.

Cadbury led the losers’ chart with a loss of 9.91 per cent to close at N10.45 per share.

Sterling Bank followed with a decline of 8.64 per cent to close at N2.01, while Stanbic IBTC went down by 8.28 per cent to close at N39.30 per share.

Cornerstone Insurance lost 7.14 per cent to close at 39k, while Dangote Sugar Refinery shed 6.33 per cent to close at N10.35 per share.

Conversely, Associated Bus Company recorded the highest price gain of 9.68 per cent to close at 34k per share.

NPF Micro Finance Bank followed with a gain 7.96 per cent to close at N1.22, while UACN appreciated by 6.99 per cent to close at N7.65 per share.

Courteville Business Solution rose by five per cent to close at 21k, while Jaiz Bank appreciated by 4.65 per cent to close at 45k per share.

In spite of the drop in market indices, the volume of shares traded closed higher with a total of 154.03 million shares worth N2.83 billion traded in 2,922 deals.

This was against a turnover of 109.56 million shares valued at N888.17 million traded in 3,382 deals on Monday.

Transactions in the shares of Nigerian Breweries topped the activity chart with 37.28 million shares worth N1.96 billion.

Transcorp followed with an exchange of 23.09 million shares valued at N23.95 million, while FBN Holdings sold13.34 million shares worth N72.81 million.

United Bank for Africa traded 9.86 million shares valued at N59.87 million, while UACN Property transacted 7.54 million shares worth N8.80 million. (NAN)