Investors lose N84bn at stock market

Equity investors in Nigeria lost about N84bn last week as buy sentiment remained low at the nation’s bourse. Stock prices were impacted negatively as supply-side outweighed demand on the trading floor of Nigerian Stock Ex- change (NSE). The value of listed equities dropped from a week long high of N9.930trn to N9.846trn. Also, the NSE All Share Index (ASI) which tracks the performance of listed equities on the bourse closed lower by 249.98 points or 0.83 percent from 29,812.05 points to 29,562.07 points. Only last Friday, the shares of Seplat Petroleum Development Company plc, PZ Cussons Nigeria plc, Dangote Sugar plc, Cadbury Nigeria plc, and UAC of Nigeria plc led the table of 15 gainers against 33 losers. Seplat Petroleum Development Company plc gained N3.72, from N301.51 to N305.23; PZ Cussons Nigeria plc gained N2.55, from N27.09 to N29.64; Dangote Sugar plc rose by N0.54, from N6.28 to N6.82; Cadbury rallied by N0.35, from N39.9 to N40.25; while UAC of Nigeria plc rose by N0.2, from N37 to N37.2. On the losers’ chart, Nestle Nigeria plc led the chart after its share price dropped by N9.75, from N810 to N800.25. 7-Up Bot- tling Company plc lost N5, from N161 to N156; Guaranty Trust Bank plc dipped from N20.41 to N 20.03, down by N0.38. SCOA plc lost N0.23, from N4.67 to N4.44; while NAHCo plc dipped from N5 to N4.8, down by N0.2. Volume of stocks traded decreased by 65.36 per- cent, from 917.085 million to 317.668 million, while the total value of stock traded decreased by 60.36 percent from N11.99bn to N4.75bn in 3,800 deals.