Equities investors’ lose N50 billion in four trading days

The bears sustained dominance at the end of transaction yesterday on the equities sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), occasioned by price losses in high cap stocks, as investors’ wealth depreciated further by N50 billion in four trading days.

Precisely, the All-share index, which opened for transactions on Monday at 26,557.44 points, plunged by 101.15 points or 0.4 per cent to 26,456.29 on Thursday. Also, the market capitalisation plummeted by N50 billion from N12.928 trillion to N12.878 trillion.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which were; Guaranty Trust Bank, Dangote Flour Mills, Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), and Lafarge Africa.

On market performance, analysts at Cordros Capital Limited, said: “In our view, the trend witnessed through the year is likely to persist through the final quarter of the year.

Although we expect pockets of gains over the final months of the year, as fund and portfolio managers realign portfolios prior to the start of 2020.

“Nonetheless, we note that valuations remain attractive driven by price deterioration throughout the year. Hence, we advise that long-term investors consider appropriately timed investments.”

However, market breadth closed positive, with 11 gainers against eight losers. Wapic Insurance recorded the highest price gain of 9.38 per cent to close at 35 kobo per share.

Chams followed with 9.09 per cent to close at 24 kobo, while FCMB Groups appreciated by 6.97 per cent to close at N1.70, per share.

Flour Mills of Nigeria rose 2.37 per cent to close at N15.10, and Law Union & Rock Insurance gained 2.08 per cent to close at 49 kobo per share.

On the other hand, Cornerstone Insurance led the losers’ chart with 8.11 per cent to close at 34 kobo per share.

UBA followed with 2.52 per cent to close at N5.80, and Wema Bank was down 1.69 to close at 58 kobo, per share.

Guaranty Trust Bank lost 1.30 per cent to close at N26.65, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp) shed 0.98 per cent to close at N1.01, per share.

The total volume traded rose 4.06 per cent to 144.087 million shares worth N2.897 billion, traded in 2,347 deals. Transactions in the shares of Guaranty Trust Bank topped the activity chart with 35.22 million shares valued at N946.74 million.

FBN holdings followed with 24.34 million shares worth N130.79 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 13.96 million shares at N23.69 million.

Zenith Bank traded 11.95 million shares valued at N213.03 million, while UBA transacted 9.999 million shares worth N58.17 million.