Taofik Salako, Deputy Group Business Editor
AFTER eight consecutive weeks of sustained price appreciation, Nigerian equities were at the weekend overwhelmed by profit-taking transactions as investors sought to monetise price gains that had seen several equities reaching new highs in recent weeks.
Benchmark indices for Nigerian equities at the weekend indicated a net loss of N470 billion during the week, implying average decline of 2.57 per cent for the week. The decline cut the average year-to-date return for Nigerian equities to 27.18 per cent, with average gain so far this month dropping to 11.81 per cent.
Aggregate market value of all quoted equities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed weekend at N17.838 trillion as against N18.308 trillion recorded as opening value for the week. The All Share Index (ASI)- the benchmark value-based index that tracks share prices of all quoted companies on the NSE, declined from the week’s opening index of 35,037.46 points to close weekend at 34,136.82 points.
Sectoral analysis showed widespread profit-taking transactions across the sectors, especially within the mid and large-cap stocks in the banking, manufacturing and oil and gas sectors. The NSE 30 Index- which tracks the 30 largest companies on the NSE, recorded above average decline of 3.08 per cent for the week. The NSE Banking Index recorded the highest price depreciation with an average decline of 5.98 per cent. The NSE Oil and Gas Index dipped by 4.38 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index depreciated by 4.29 per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index dropped by 0.66 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index was the contrarian with modest gain of 0.51 per cent.
The negative overall market performance was driven by decline in share prices of many large-cap stocks. FBN Holdings declined by 12.12 per cent. Union Bank of Nigeria lost 11.29 per cent. United Bank for Africa (UBA) dropped by 10.9 per cent. Dangote Sugar Refinery declined by 7.7 per cent. Flour Mills of Nigeria dropped by 7.4 per cent. Stanbic IBTC Holdings depreciated by 6.5 per cent. Zenith Bank lost 5.7 per cent while Dangote Cement dropped by 3.4 per cent.
Price movement analysis showed that there were 21 gainers to 55 losers, a major decline from the previous week, which had 69 gainers against 12 losers.
Other major decliners included Coronation Insurance, which dropped by 21.15 per cent; Oando, -19.75 per cent; Japaul Oil & Maritime Services, -18.18 per cent; Transnational Corporation […]