Nestle one of the most highly capitalised equity on Wednesday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded the highest loss to lead the losers’ pack with N60 to close at N1,540 per share. The market capitalisation shed N153 billion or 1.08 per cent to close at N13.984 trillion, compared to N14.137 trillion achieved on Monday. Nigerian Breweries trailed with a loss of N5 to close at N110, while International Breweries depreciated by N2.55 to close at N49.25 per share.
Dangote Cement was down by N2.50 to close at N242.50, while Lafarge Africa lost N1.90 to close at N36.60 per share. Market capitalisation dropped to N13 trillion mark following loss recorded by Nestle and other highly capitalised stocks. Also, the All-Share Index declined further to 38,000 points region barely one week of dropping to 39,000 marks. The index which opened at 39,028.51 lost 422.1 points or 1.08 per cent to close at 38,606.41. On the other hand, Flour Mills led the gainers’ table, growing by N1.50 to close at N31.60 per share.
Dangote Sugar Refinery followed with a gain of 45k to close at N17, while Dangote Flour increased by 40k to close at N8.95 per share. FBN Holdings grew by 35k to close at N9.60, while Fidson Healthcare added 29k to close at N6.24 per share. However, the volume of shares traded rose by 53.85 per cent, while the value inched by 191.46 per cent. Consequently, investors bought and sold 342.05 million shares valued at N4.74 billion achieved in 5,057 deals. This was in contrast with a total of 222.32 million shares worth N1.64 billion traded in 4,461 deals on Monday.
The banking sub-sector, through Access Bank dominated trading activities with a turnover of 68.33 million shares worth N743.89 million. Transcorp followed with an account of 42.09 million shares valued at N51.49 million, while Zenith International Bank sold 35.69 million shares worth N929.62 million. Guaranty Trust Bank traded 24.56 million shares valued at N1.01 billion, while United Bank for Africa exchanged 20.67 million shares worth N220.01 million. Alhaji Rasheed Yussuf, the former president of Association of Stock Broking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON), attributed the persistent lull in the stock market to exit of portfolio investors due to political situation.
Yussuf said that tense situation in the Middle-Belt and political campaigns contributed to the exit of portfolio investors. He stressed that Nigeria needed foreign investors that were committed to stay on by investing in specific industries. “We need foreign investors but we need the ones that will come and invest in our economy. What we are seeing are not the ones that want to invest in our economy but the ones that want to play our market. Any negative development, they will exit with their money. They are called speculative investors because they don’t want to take any risk. “They come to your country as soon as they see that the foreign exchange is going down or political situation is tensed, they exit. The speculative segment of the foreign investors is what we are seeing in the market,’’ Yussuf said.
(NAN)
