Conoil, PZ, Guinness, others rally as sell pressure outweighs equities

Despite that sell pressure outweighed bargain activities at the Nigerian bourse yesterday, Conoil plc, PZ Cussons plc, Guinness Nigeria plc, Lafarge Cement WAPCO plc and Ashaka Cement plc respectively surpassed other companies in share price appreciation.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) was down by 0.29% after moving from 41,642.56 points to close at 41,228.65 points; while the market capitalisation of equities listed on the main board dropped from N13.750trillion to N13.613trillion, indicating value loss of about N137billion.

In 5,339 deals, equity dealers exchanged 340,595,637 units of listed companies shares valued at N3.711billion.

Out of the 32 gainers recorded yesterday, Conoil plc led other companies after its share price rose by N6.13, from N59.85 to N65.98; while PZ Cussons plc followed with a gain of N1.56, from N36.94 to N38.50.

In addition, Guinness Nigeria plc added N1, from N179 to N180; Lafarge WAPCO rose by N0.80, from N109.70 to N110.50; while Ashaka Cement plc garnered N0.69 after its share price appreciated from N26.30 to N26.99.

Nigerian Breweries plc led the basket of 23 losers after its share price dipped from N179 to N170.11, down by N8.89. It was followed by another large cap stock –Dangote Cement plc which declined from N230 to N224.25, down by N5.75; while Flour Mills of Nigeria plc lost N1, from N78 to N77.

Also, National Salt Company of Nigeria plc recorded N0.4 decline in share price, from N12 to N11.60; while UACN Property Development Company plc also lost N0.40, from N18 to N17.60.

Actively traded stocks include: Wapic plc, UBA plc, Access Bank plc, Transcorp plc, and Custodian Insurance plc.

Equity traders exchanged 72,725,118 units of Wapic plc valued at N56.510million; 40,469,134 units of UBA plc valued at N327.991million; 37,375,125 units of Access Bank plc valued at N370.288million; 30,589,556 units of Transcorp plc valued at N128.868million; and 15,707,944 units of Custodian Insurance valued at N55.516million.