Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Breaking News:

Sell pressure drags indices further by N96 billion

By Helen Oji
18 February 2020   |   3:30 am
The equities market reopened the week on a bearish note yesterday, occasioned by sell-pressure in mostbellwethers, resulting to a further drop in market capitalisation

The equities market reopened the week on a bearish note yesterday, occasioned by sell-pressure in mostbellwethers, resulting to a further drop in market capitalisation by N96billion.
   
Specifically, at the close of transactions Monday, the All-Share Index fell by 184.93 points or 0.67 per cent to 27,570.94 points. Accordingly, investors lost N96billion in value as market capitalisation declined to N14.360 trillion.
   
The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large value stocks, amongst which were; Guaranty Trust Bank, BUA Cement, International Breweries, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), and Dangote Sugar Refinery.

 
Commenting, analysts at United Capital, said: “This week, we expect the influx of audited financial reports of companies that have not released unaudited result earlier to drive performance, as the result of some of the tier one banks is expected to spur buying interests.”
   
Also, analysts at Afrinvest Limited expected the bearish sentiment to persist in the near term, noting that there are opportunities for bargain-hunting.
 
Market breadth closed negative, with 11 gainers versus 18 losers. Jaiz Bank recorded the highest price gain of 6.25 per cent to close at 68 kobo per share.
   
Japaul Oil and Maritime Services followed with five per cent to close at 21 kobo. Oando appreciated 4.35 per cent to close at N3.60, per share.
   
Cornerstone Insurance rose 3.70 per cent to close at 56 kobo, and NPF Micro Finance Bank 3.60 per cent  to close at N1.15, per share.
   
On the other hand, Law Union and Rock Insurance led the losers’ chart by 9.57 per cent to close at N1.04 per share.
   
Wapic Insurance followed with a decline of 9.09 per cent to close at 30 kobo, and International Breweries fell 9.03 to close at N7.05, per share.
   
Unity Bank lost 8.77 per cent to close at 52 kobo, while ETI shed 8.57 per cent to close at N6.40, per share.
   
The total volume traded rose by 1.6 per cent to 134.61 million shares worth N1.58billion, traded in 3,302 deals. Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 22.45 million shares valued at N441.63million.  
 
United Capital followed with 17.16 million shares worth N50.98million, while Guaranty Trust Bank traded 12.42 million shares at N362.84million.
   
Unilever Nigeria traded 10.24 million shares valued at N153.68million, while United Bank for Africa (UBA) transacted 8.81 million shares worth N67.25million.

In this article

0 Comments