MTN, Dangote Cement, others lead market N303b losses

Following heavy price losses suffered by most blue-chip stocks, easpecially MTN, and Dangote Cement, transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed on a downturn yesterday, causing market capitalisation to decline significantly by N303 billion.
   
Specifically, at the close of trading Tuesday, the All-Share Index (ASI) shed 686.58 absolute points, representing a dip of 2.22 per cent to close at 30,194.71 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation dropped N303 billion to close at N13.299 trillion.
   
Trading performance was influenced by price depreciation in medium and large capitalised stocks, among which were, MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement, Forte Oil, Africa Prudential, and Oando.
   
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited, said: “In line with our expectation, market performance was negative as investors booked profit on large-cap stocks which rallied the previous week. We expect the negative performance to persist in the absence of any major catalyst.”
   
Market breadth was negative with 14 gainers against 19 losers. Neimeth Pharmaceuticals recorded the highest price gain of 9.80 per cent to close at 56 kobo per share. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) followed with a gain of 9.45 per cent to close at N11, while Unity Bank rose by 9.23 per cent to close at 71 kobo, per share.
   
Morison Industries appreciated 9.09 per cent to close at 60 kobo; and Unilever Nigeria gained 8.71 per cent to close at N33.70, per share. On the other hand, R.T. Briscoe Nigeria led the losers’ chart by 9.38 per cent to close at 29 kobo, per share.     
 
MTN Nigeria followed with a decline 7.14 per cent to close at N130, while Veritas Kapital Assurance declined by 4.76 per cent to close at 20 kobo, per share. Courteville Business Solutions fell 4.55 per cent to close at 21 kobo, while Jaiz Bank was down 4.08 per cent to close at 47 kobo, per share.
   
Also, the total volume traded fell 49.60 per cent to 148.21 million units, valued at N2.22 billion, and exchanged in 3,654 deals. Fidelity Bank traded with 28.28 million shares valued at N49.5 million.Access Bank followed with 20.28 million shares worth N117.36 million, while United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 20.06 million shares at N114.6 billion.MTN Nigeria traded 10.22 million shares valued at N1.44 billion, and Zenith Bank transacted 8.73 million shares worth N168.32 million.