The bears have continued to upstage the bulls on the equity sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), as most blue-chip stocks depreciated in price, causing investors’ wealth to plunge further by N162 billion in three trading days.
Specifically, market capitalisation which opened the week at N13.746 trillion on Monday, closed at N13.584trillion yesterday, representing N162billion loss while the All-share index shed 447.85 points or 1.2 per cent from 37,946.92 to 37,499.07.
Further breakdown of yesterday’s transactions showed that the decline was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which were; Nestle Nigeria, Unilever Nigeria, Nigerian Breweries, Forte Oil and Conoil.
Analysts at APT Securities and Funds Limited, said: “The equities market has experienced three consecutive red signals since the commencement of the trading week. Nevertheless, the decline of yesterday is less when compared to prior signals. This suggests a drop in weight loss on capitalised stocks.”
Market breadth closed negative, with 21 gainers versus 24 losers. May and Baker Nigeria recorded the highest price gain of 9.76 per cent to close at N2.25 per share. FCMB Group gained 9.62 per cent to close at N2.28.
Japaul Oil and Maritime Service appreciated by 9.09 per cent to close at 36kobo per share. Skye Bank also appreciated by 9.09 per cent to close at 72kobo, while Mutual Benefit Assurance gained 8.33 per cent to close at 39kobo per share.
On the other hand, Forte Oil, and McNichols led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent each, to close at N26.10 and 81kobo, respectively, while Omoluabi Mortgage Bank shed 9.38 per cent to close at 58kobo per share.
Conoil declined by 8.33 per cent to close at N27.50, and Caverton Offshore Supports Group shed 8.22 per cent to close at N2.01 per share.
However, the total volume traded appreciated by 96.49 per cent to 505.74 million shares worth N3.13billion, and traded in 3,906 deals. Transactions in the shares of Multiverse topped the activity chart with 200.04 million shares valued at N40.01million. National Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) followed with 125.09 million shares worth N747.33million.
Guaranty Trust Bank traded 28.42 million shares valued at N1.13billion.
Access Bank traded 18.91 million shares worth N195.44million, while FCMB Groups transacted 13.91 million shares at N30.83million.