Trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange maintained a downward trend at the start of the week as the All Share Index (ASI) slid 21bps to 41,845.92 points while year to date YTD return contracted to 9.4 per cent. As a result, investors lost N32.2 billion in value as market capitalisation decreased to N14.9 trillion. The bearish performance of the market today was primarily due to profit taking in large cap stocks – NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-3.4%), ETI (-4.8%) and STANBIC (-2.0%).
Commenting on the market performance, an economist, Sheriffdeen Tella, a Professor of Economics at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun, attributed the development to unstable economic environment. Tella said that non-passage of the 2018 budget by the National Assembly and absence of monetary policy to fine tune the economy was affecting stability in the stock market. According to him, investors are continued to be risk averse. He said that foreign investors were unsure of the macro-economic direction, while the local investors too were affected by absence of information asymmetry in the market.
Tella said that the bearish trend would likely dominate the market this week, unless approval was giving for membership of the Monetary Policy Committee and a greater commitment to the passage of 2018 budget. A breakdown of the price movement table indicated that Nigerian Breweries topped the losers’ chart, declining by N4.50 to close at N128.50 per share.
Cadbury trailed with a loss of N1.65 to close at N15.45, while Stanbic IBTC lost N1 to close at N49 per share. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated depreciated by 95k to close at N18.85, while NASCON Allied Industries was down by 65k to close at N19.35 per share. On the other hand, Dangote Cement led the gainers’ table, increasing by N1 to close at N265 per share. PZ followed with a gain of 55k to close at N23.55, while Zenith Bank appreciated by 40k to close at N28 per share.
Guaranty Trust Bank added 40k to close at N28, while C &I Leasing advanced by 18k to close at N1.99 per share. Also, the volume of shares traded dropped by 23.19 per cent as investors bought and sold 327.76 million shares worth N5.26 billion in 5,366 deals. This was against the 426.73 million shares valued at N7.09 billion exchanged in 5,191 deals on Friday. Zenith Bank was the most active stock, exchanging 128.97 million shares worth N3.49 billion. FBN Holdings followed with an account of 23.78 million shares valued at N276.31 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 16.68 million shares worth N37.99 million. Access Bank sold 11.69 million shares valued at N136.81 million, while Transcorp exchanged 11.47 million shares worth N19.18 million.
Market Statistics Monday, 19th March 2018
Market Cap (N’bn) 14,969.7
Market Cap (US$’bn) 48.9
NSE All-Share Index 41,845.92
Daily Performance % (0.2)
Week Performance % (2.8)
YTD Performance % 9.4
Daily Volume (Million) 326.9
Daily Value (N’bn) 5.3
Daily Value (US$’m) 17.2
