Persistent sell pressure: NSE All-Share Index resumes with 0.67% loss

Activities on the nation’s bourse opened the week on Monday still on a negative mood as sell-off in high capitalised stocks dragged the All-Share Index (ASI) further down by 0.67 per cent.

Specifically, the All-Share Index dipped by 184.93 points or 0.67 per cent to close at 27,570.94 against 27,755.87 on Friday.

Also, investors lost N96 billion in value with the market capitalisation declining to N14.359 trillion compared with N14.455 trillion achieved on Friday.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Guaranty Trust Bank, BUA Cement, International Breweries, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) and Dangote Sugar Refinery.

Analysts at United Capital stated that: “This week, we expect the influx of audited financial reports of companies that had not released unaudited result earlier to drive performance as the result of some of the tier one banks is expected to spur buying interests.”

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited expect the bearish sentiment to persist in the near term, noting that there are opportunities for bargain hunting.

Market breadth closed negative with 11 gainers against 18 losers.

Law Union and Rock Insurance led the losers’ chart in percentage terms, dropping by 9.57 per cent to close at N1.04 per share.

Wapic Insurance lost 9.09 per cent to close at 30k, while International Breweries dipped 9.03 per cent to close at N7.05 per share.

Unity Bank lost 8.77 per cent to close at 52k, while ETI shed 8.57 per cent to close at N6.40 per share.

Conversely, Jaiz Bank dominated the gainers’ table in percentage terms, gaining 6.25 per cent to close at 68k per share.

Japaul Oil and Maritime Services followed with a gain of five per cent to close at 21k, while Oando appreciated by 4.35 per cent to close at N3.60 per share.

Cornerstone Insurance improved by 3.70 per cent to close at 56k, while NPF Micro Finance Bank appreciated by 3.60 per cent to close at N1.15 per share.

However, the total volume of shares traded rose by 1.6 per cent as investors bought and sold 134.61 million shares, worth N1.58 billion exchanged in 3,302 deals.

This was in contrast with a total of 132.62 million shares valued at N1.28 billion achieved in 3,189 deals on Friday.

Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 22.45 million shares worth N441.63 million.

United Capital sold 17.16 million shares valued at N50.98 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank accounted for 12.42 million shares worth N362.84 million.

Unilever Nigeria traded 10.24 million shares valued at N153.68 million, while United Bank for Africa transacted 8.81 million shares worth N67.25 million. (NAN)