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Stocks shed N121.86billion in 3days as profiteering gains tempo

By Bukky Olajide
17 April 2015   |   3:04 am
The equities market closed yesterday on a negative note, as Nigerian Stock Exchange [NSE] All Share Index [ASI] depreciated by 0.38 per cent to close at 34,832.62 basis points, compared with the 0.22 per cent depreciation recorded previously. Its Year-to-Date (YTD) returns currently stands at 0.51 per cent.
NSE (Nigerian Stock Exchange)

NSE (Nigerian Stock Exchange)

The equities market closed yesterday on a negative note, as Nigerian Stock Exchange [NSE] All Share Index [ASI] depreciated by 0.38 per cent to close at 34,832.62 basis points, compared with the 0.22 per cent depreciation recorded previously. Its Year-to-Date (YTD) returns currently stands at 0.51 per cent.

Market breadth closed negative as Caverton led 26gainers against 28losers topped by Mansard at the end of yesterday’s session- an unimproved performance when compared with previous outlook.

Market turnover closes positive as volume moved up by 147.50 per cent against 17.09 per cent uptick recorded in the previous session. UBA, Stdinsure and Transcorp were the most active to boost market turnover. Zenith Bank and Guaranty topped market value list.

On sectoral indices, banking recorded 1.33 per cent gain to emerge the most supportive sectoral index among others while NSE Consumer Goods emerged as worst hit to close with 1.79 per cent.

Volume shockers included Mansard which led the list of active stocks that record impressive volume spike at the end of today’s session.

Meanwhile, FBN Holdings will focus on short-term trade financing to make up for slower growth in its loan book forecast to expand by four per cent this year, from 23 per cent last year, its chief executive officer, Bello Maccido, has said.

The top tier lender with over N2.2 trillion on its loan book will be conservative on loans this year after financing power and oil sector projects in 2014.

In his words: “In the past we would do term loans of two years but this year we would focus on trade finance. We are projecting modest loan growth of 4 percent. We expect to be conservative on loans … focusing on trade transactions that have typical 90-day cycles.”

Maccido said he expected FBN Holdings to generate a tenth of its revenues from its investment banking and insurance units combined by 2016, up from around seven per cent now, after it acquired Kakawa Discount House and Oasis Insurance last year.

The commercial banking arm, First Bank Limited, with over 9.4 million customers in Africa’s biggest economy, accounts for around 93 per cent of revenues, Maccido said, adding that the group has applied for a merchant banking license.

FBN Holdings, with interest in lending, insurance and investments, last week reported growth in 2014 pre-tax profit of 1.7 per cent, driven by project and trade finance.

Shares in FBN Holdings, which have risen eight per cent this year, fell 0.1 per cent to N9.50 each on Monday. The stock fell 46 per cent last year.

Maccido said the bank holding company was trading at a discount of 0.6 times book value relative to peers, but expected a rally in its share price this year after a rule restricting pension funds from investing in holding companies was lifted.

FBN Holdings proposed to pay 0.10 naira cash dividend for 2014 with a bonus of one new share for every 10 held, Maccido said because the group planned to retain a greater proportion of its earnings to fund growth rather than raising fresh funds.

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