Stock Market Retreats As Investors Offload N57bn

The domestic equities market yesterday kicked off the week’s trading on N57 billion loss driven by sell pressures on Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc and 14 others.

As a result, the All-Share Index declined by 104.29 points, representing a decline of 0.15 per cent to close at 71,008.70 points. Also, market capitalisation declined by N57 billion to close at N39.051 trillion.

The downturn was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Nigerian Breweries, Zenith Bank, CWG and Nigerian Exchange Group.

This week, United Capital Plc said “we expect the bullish sentiments in the local equities market to continue, driven by movements in large-cap stocks, as investors remain positively biased to fundamentally sound stocks.

“The market has shown resilience and maintained its upward trajectory despite the rising yield in the fixed-income environment. However, a downside risk to our projection is that there may be pockets of profit-taking activities as some investors look to crystallise gains.”

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However, market breadth closed positive, as 36 stocks gained relative to 15 losers. MeCure Industries emerged the highest price gainer of 9.95 per cent to close at N6.30, per share. Multiverse Mining and Exploration followed with a gain of 9.92 per cent to close at N3.99, while Associated Bus Company rose by 9.88 per cent to close at 89 kobo, per share.

C&I Leasing increased by 9.84 per cent to close at N5.47, while Northern Nigeria Flour Mills (NNFM) added 9.83 per cent to close at N26.25, per share. On the other side, R.T. Briscoe Nigeria led the losers’ chart with 9.84 per cent to close at 55 kobo, per share. Prestige Assurance followed with a decline of 9.09 per cent to close at 50 kobo, while Stanbic IBTC Holdings shed 7.08 per cent to close at N65.00, per share.

CWG depreciated by 3.14 per cent to close at N7.70, while Caverton Offshore Support Group down by 2.78 per cent to close at N1.40, per share.

The total volume traded declined by 18.8 per cent to 358.45 million units, valued at N4.36 billion, and exchanged in 6,551 deals. Transactions in the shares of Access Holdings led the activity with 27.583 million shares worth N474.629 million. AIICO Insurance accounted for 21.931 million shares valued at N16.650 million, while Universal Insurance traded 21.733 million shares valued at N5.224 million.

Japaul Gold and Ventures traded 21.241 million shares worth N37.212 million, while Veritas Kapital Assurance traded 18.995 million shares worth N5.881 million.