Market routes downwards following profit taking in ‘big names’

The Nigerian stock market routed downwards on Tuesday January 21 as profit taking on major counters made the NSE All Share Index (ASI) trade under.

Dangote Cement, GTBank, BUA Cement, Access Bank, and Zenith Bank stocks recorded significant dip at the close of trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Investors sold these securities in order to lock in gains after they rose appreciably recently.

Meanwhile, Lafarge Africa, Nigerian Breweries, MTN N, Honeywell Flourmills and Oando stocks topped the advancers’ league.

Market watchers foresee mixed trading this week as they anticipate further sell offs on some of the stocks that rallied recently and bargain hunting on others that are fundamentally sound but are yet to move as much.

The NSE ASI decreased by 0.83 percent, resulting to negative return of -0.53percent week-to-date (WtD). The record year-to-date (YtD) positive return moderated to +9.76percent.

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The NSE ASI closed lower at 29,418.70 points as against a preceding day high of 29,710.56 points. The value of listed stocks decreased from N15.303trillion to N15.153trillion, representing a decreased of about N150billion.

Dangote Cement stock price decreased from N175 to N173, losing N2 or 1.14percent, followed by GTBank Plc which rose from N34 to N32.2, down by N1.8 or 5.29percent.

BUA Cement Plc also dipped from N37 to N35.8, losing N1.2 or 3.24percent. Access Bank Plc was also down, from N10.75 to N10.05, after losing 70kobo or 6.51percent, while Zenith Bank Plc decreased from N22.75 to N22.35, losing 40kobo or 1.76percent.

In 4,866 deals, equity traders exchanged 266,478,314 units valued at N3.615billion.

The share price of Lafarge Africa Plc increased most from a low of N16.35 to N17.35, adding N1 or 6.12percent. Nigerian Breweries Plc followed after moving from N51.1 to N52, adding 90kobo or 1.76percent.

MTN N rallied from N128.3 to N128.5, adding 20kobo or 16percent. Honeywell Flourmills gained 10kobo, from N1.03 to N1.13, adding 9.71percent, while Oando Plc moved up from N3.52 to N3.6, gaining 8kobo or 2.27percent.

Iheanyi Nwachukwu

Iheanyi Nwachukwu, is a creative content writer with over 18 years journalism experience writing on banking, finance and capital markets. 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).

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