Stock Market Sustains Bearish Sentiment With N78bn Loss

The Nigerian stock market yesterday extended its losing streak as price decline in Okomu Oil and 23 others dragged the market capitalisation lower by N78 billion.

The All Share Index (ASI) decreased by 144.79 absolute points, representing a dip of 0.29 per cent to close at 49,546.38 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation lost N78 billion to close at N26.724 trillion.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Okomu Oil, Flour Mills of Nigeria, Cadbury Nigeria, MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN) and BUA Cement.

Analysts at GTI Securities Limited said: “we expect mixed sentiments to continue in the course of the week.”
Market breadth closed negative, with 12 gainers versus 24 losers. FTN Cocoa processors recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent to close at 33 kobo, per share. Regency Alliance Insurance followed with a gain 8.70 per cent to close at 25 kobo, while Prestige Assurance rose by 8.33 per cent to close 52 kobo, per share.
Red Star Express went up by 5.88 per cent to close at N2.70, while Caverton Offshore Support Group rose by 3.96 per cent to close at N1.05, per share.
On the other hand, NEM Insurance led the losers’ chart by 9.98 per cent to close at N3.97, per share. Okomu Oil followed with a decline of 9.96 per cent to close at N195.30, while University Press fell by 9.91 per cent to close at N1.91, per share.
Lasaco Assurance went down by 9.57 to close at N1.04, while Multiverse Mining and Exploration shed 8.70 per cent to close at N2.10, per share.
However, the total volume of trades rose by 14.1 per cent to 146.987 million units, valued at N2.650 billion and exchanged in 3,180 deals. Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings (FBNH) topped the activity chart with 38.972 million shares valued at N431.888 million. United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with 13.021 million shares worth N91.226 million, while Access Holdings traded 10.204 million shares valued at N84.410 million.
Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) traded 6.513 million shares valued at N132.157 million, while Stanbic IBTC Holdings transacted 6.172 million shares worth N172.859 million.