Betaglass, Forte oil lead stock market’s N114bn losses

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) extended its losing streak to the second trading session of the week and month of April, occasioned by sustained losses in highly capitalised stocks, especially Betaglass and Forte oil.

The losses resulted to a further decline in market capitalisation by N114 billion.

Yesterday, the All Share Index (ASI) shed 300.73 absolute points, representing a dip of 1.0 per cent to close at 30,226.77 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation shed N114 billion to close at N11.353 trillion.

The downturn was impacted by price depreciation in medium and large capitalised stocks, among which are, Nestle Nigeria, Beta Glass, Nigerian Breweries, Unilever Nigeria and Forte Oil.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said the negative performance recorded thus far would persist in subsequent trading sessions. “We do not rule out the possibility of an upturn in the performance of the benchmark index as investors continue to take position in fundamentally attractive stocks.”
Market breadth remained negative with 10 gainers against 28 losers.

Sovereign Trust Insurance and Wema Bank recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent, each to close at 22 kobo and 77 kobo, respectively, while Ikeja Hotel followed with a gain of 9.71 per cent, to close at N2.26, per share.

Dangote Sugar Refinery appreciated by 5.63 per cent to close at N15, while NEM Insurance went up by 4.95 per cent to close at N2.33, per share.

On the other hand, Beta Glass led the losers’ chart by 9.95 per cent, to close at N58.35, per share. Forte Oil followed with a decline 9.93 per cent to close at N24.95 per share. Nigerian Breweries declined by 9.68 per cent to close at N56.90, per share.

Vitafoam Nigeria declined by 9.62 per cent to close at N3.57, while Livestock Feeds down by 9.52 per cent, to close at 57 kobo, per share.
Total volume traded went down by 78.14 per cent to 376.95 billion units, valued at N4.54 billion, and exchanged in 4,018 deals.

FCMB Groups traded with 53.88 million shares valued at N99.96 million. Sterling Bank followed with 41.40 million shares worth N99.22 million.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 41.33 million shares valued at N316.91 million.
Fidelity Bank traded 37.65 million shares valued at N66.33 million, while Zenith Bank transacted 31.99 million shares worth N694.17 million.