The Nigerian stock market reopened for the month of September on a downturn, following sell-pressure in the shares of FTN Cocoa and 16 others, causing investors’ wealth to plunge further by N18 billion.
Specifically, at the close of transactions on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) dipped by 35.43 absolute points, representing a decline of 0.09 per cent, to close at 39,184.18 points.
Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value lost N18 billion to close at N20.416 trillion.
The market negative performance was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are: Nigerian Breweries, UAC of Nigeria (UACN), Honeywell Flour Mills, Morison Industries, and Dangote Sugar Refinery.
Analysts at Vetiva Dealings and Brokerage said: “With sell-pressure appearing to hold sway in the market, we expect investors to start looking out for fundamentally sound names with lower entry price.”
On the price movement chart, 17 stocks constituted the losers’ chart while nine others appreciated at price. AIICO Insurance recorded the highest price gain of 4.04 per cent to close at N1.03 kobo. Custodian Investment followed with a gain of 3.15 per cent to close at N6.55 kobo, while Fidson Healthcare went up by 2.80 per cent to close at N6.25 kobo.
Fidelity Bank rose by 2.55 per cent to close at N2.41 kobo while Livestock Feeds gained 0.95 per cent each to close at N2.13 kobo. On the other hand, FTN Cocoa Processors led the losers’ chart by 8.77 per cent to close at 52 kobo.
Morison Industries followed with a decline of 5.42 per cent to close at N1.92 kobo while UACN Property Development Company (UPDC) lost 4.84 per cent to close at N1.77 kobo. Jaiz Bank lost 4.76 per cent to close at 60 kobo, while Wema Bank shed 4.65 per cent to close at 82 kobo.
The total volume of trades declined by 60.23 per cent to 169.297 billion units, valued at N1.424 billion, and exchanged in 3,449 deals. Transactions in the shares of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) topped the activity chart with 28.537 million shares valued at N25.756 million. Zenith Bank followed with 16.592 million shares worth N398.197 million, while Honeywell Flour Mills traded 13.234 million shares valued at N54.949 million.
United Capital traded 12.798 million shares valued at N91.393 million, while Mutual Benefits Assurance transacted 8.322 million shares worth N2.523 million.
Guardian