Stock investors lose additional N23bn as sell pressure continues

The Nigerian stock market’s year-to-date (YtD) returns stands at -9.57percent as sell pressure further weighed on list equities. The equities market closed Tuesday May 14, 2019 on a negative note as the All Share Index (ASI) depreciated further by 0.22percent to 28,422.76 points against preceding day high of 28,484.44 points. Twenty (20) stocks gained against 16 losers.

Also, the value of listed stocks which opened at N10.701trillion decreased to N10.678trillion, down by N23billion. Nestle Nigeria Plc stock price declined most by N51.5 or 3.48percent, from N1481.5 to N1430.

Seplat Plc followed after its share price lost N2 or 0.38percent, from N522 to N520. Lafarge Africa Plc made the top-three losers league, from N11 to N10.7, down by 30kobo or 2.73percent.

On the top-three gainers table, Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc advanced most by N9 or 5.45percent, from N165 to N174; GTBank Plc stock price also moved up from N31 to N31.6, adding 60kobo or 1.94percent; while UAC of Nigeria Plc stock price increased from N7 to N7.3, adding 30kobo or 4.29percent.

In 3,600 deals, stock dealers traded 200,075,304 units valued at N2.690billion. The Financial Services sector led the activity chart with 149.4million shares exchanged for N1.94billion; followed by Conglomerates with 12.5million shares traded for N62million.

GTBank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, UBA Plc and FBN Holdings were actively traded stocks Tuesday on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

In their view on what shapes the market on Wednesday, research analysts at Lagos-based Vetiva Capital said: “Save for the performance of NESTLE, sentiment was generally positive on Tuesday and market would have closed in green, hence barring any surprise outings by heavyweight stocks, we expect to see a neutral to positive performance with mixed sentiment being the general tone”.

 

Iheanyi Nwachukwu