In line with market analysts’ expectations, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) closed south on Thursday June 11, 2020 amid continued profit taking actions by investors.
Julius Berger Nigeria Plc topped the basket of stocks that spurred the record negative close after its share price decreased by N1.4 or 6.59percent, from N21.25 to N19.85. Nigerian Breweries Plc also dipped from N42.5 to N42, losing 50kobo or 1.18percent; while UACN Plc decreased from N7.5 to N7.2, shedding 30kobo or 4percent.
Market watchers had expected preceding day’s bearish pattern to filter into Thursday session which happened to be the last trading day of the week because of Democracy day celebration on Friday June 12. In 3,880 deals, investors exchanged 337,129,915 units valued at N3.405billion.
The NSE ASI closed at 25,182.67 points, down by 32.37 points or 0.13percent as against preceding day high of 25,215.04 points. Equities market value decreased from N13.153trillion to N13.136trillion, after shedding N17billion. All sectoral indexes closed in the red except NSE insurance index.
Investors had earlier this week taken advantage of preceding week’s price reversal on the heavyweight counters to raise their bargain hunting activities, which helped to spur the market to a positive close week-on-week (WoW).
In the four-day trading week to Thursday, the market increased by 0.67 percent; month-to-date (MtD) it has decreased by -0.34 percent; while year-to-date (ytd) it is down by -6.18percent.
Brent Crude contract for August 2020 was down by $2.37 or 5.68percent to $39.36 per barrel as at 9.24am on Thursday. Oil prices dropped as fears resurfaced that a second wave of coronavirus could hit the US and stunt economic activity. Data showing that US oil inventories surged last week also subdued prices.
Analysts said rising cases this week in India and US increase the threat of a second wave of coronavirus, meaning lockdowns can go on for longer and weigh on the oil price.
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Iheanyi Nwachukwu
Iheanyi Nwachukwu, is a creative content writer with almost two decades journalism experience writing on banking, finance, capital markets, and tax. The multiple awards winning journalist is Assistant Editor, BusinessDay. Iheanyi holds BSc Degree in Economics from Imo State University; Master of Science (MSc) Degree in Management from University of Lagos.
Iheanyi has attended several work-related trainings including (i) Advanced Writing and Reporting Skills (Pan African University, Lagos); (ii) News Agency Journalism (Indian Institute of Mass Communication {IIMC}, New Delhi, India); and (iii) Capital Markets Development and Regulations (International Law Institute {ILI} of Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA).
Other trainings Iheanyi attended include: Economic/Political Risk Analysis (By Thomson Reuters Foundation); International Financial Journalism (IFJ) (By PMA Media Training, UK); Effective Business Writing Skills (By Phillips Consulting); Reporting on Corporate Governance (By International Finance Corporation (IFC) & Thomson Reuters Foundation UK); etc. In addition, he has participated in high-level economy & markets events in Dubai, South Africa, Morocco, and other African countries like Zambia, Ghana and Gambia.
