Equities Market Extend Losing Streak As Index Slumps Further

Equities market extended the losing streak at the end of yesterday’s transactions, as more bluechip stocks depreciated in price, resulting to a further decline in the All-Share Index (ASI) by 0.57 percent.

Precisely, the ASI fell by 151.69 absolute points, or 0.58 percent to close at 26,223.66 points. Similarly, market capitalisation lost N73billion to close at N12.766trillion.

The downtrend was impacted by losses recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which were; Presco, Dangotåe Cement, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, International Breweries and MTN Nigeria. Reacting to yesterday’s performance, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Consulting Limited, Ambrose Omordion, said: “We expect the mixed performance to continue on renewed positive sentiment and momentum, as the market continues to interpret the recently-released company scorecards, and align their portfolios along with the impressive numbers, in expectation of improved liquidity and positive economic data.”

Market breadth closed negative, with 10 gainers versus 12 losers. Cornerstone Insurance recorded the highest price gain of 8.89 percent to close at 49 kobo per share.Law Union and Rock Insurance followed with a gain 8.70 percent to close at 50 kobo, while Lasaco Assurance garnered 3.85 per cent to close at 27 kobo, per share.

Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp) rose 3.03 percent to close at N1.02, and FCMB Group by 1.75 percent to close at N1.74, per share.On the other hand, Presco led the losers’ chart with 9.90 percent to close at N34.60 per share. International Breweries followed with 9.69 percent to close at N10.25, while McNichols shed 8.70 percent to close at 42 kobo, per share.

Fidelity Bank lost 6.88 percent to close at N1.76, and Wapic Insurance 5.88 per cent to close at 32 kobo, per share. Also, the total volume traded declined by 23.68 percent to 232.22 million shares worth N3.12 billion, traded in 3,171 deals. Transactions in the shares of united Bank for Africa (UBA) topped the activity chart with 59.06 million shares valued at N371.47 million.

Access Bank followed with 45.62 million shares worth N378.12 million. Zenith Bank traded 26.46 million shares at N459.36 million. Guaranty Trust Bank traded 19.7 million shares valued at N514.97 million, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) transacted 13.04 million shares worth N13.03 million.