Listed stocks on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange shed N48.6 billion at the end the first quarter of 2019, indicating that investors are not significantly impressed by the mouth watering dividends companies have announced in the last few weeks for the period ended December 31, 2018.
The market capitalisation of listed equities closed at N11.67 trillion on March 29, 2019 as against N11.72 trillion on the last trading day of 2018. This amounted to a marginal 0.41 percent decline in market capitalisation. The All Share Index (ASI) fell by a wider margin during the period as it closed the first quarter at 31,041.42 points on March 29, 2019 in contrast to 31,430.50 basis points on 31 December 2018, representing -1.24 percent decline in ASI.
The best performing sectoral indexes are NSE ASeM Index which appreciated by 1.69 percent; NSE Lotus II Index that gained 1.51 percent; NSE Banking Index that rose by 1.26 percent.
On the downside are the NSE Consumer Goods Index depreciated by -5.01 percent; NSE Oil and Gas that lost by -3.87 percent and the newly introduced NSE AFR Div Yield Index which shed -2.76 percent.
C & I Leasing led the gainers’ chart appreciating by 348.9 percent to close at N7.99 per share. ABC Transport appreciated by 82.8 percent to close at N0.53 per share; Dangote Flour rose by 48.9 percent to end the quarter at N10.20 per share; Julius Berger appreciated by 36.8 percent to end the quarter at N27.50 per share while Royal Exchange rose by 31.8 percent to end the first quarter of 2019 at N0.29 per share.
TELIAT SULE
