Japaul, Eterna lead stock market’s N9 billion loss

The bears strengthened hold on the equity sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday, as more bluechip stocks depreciated in price, causing market capitalisation to dip further by N9 billion.

Specifically, at the close of transactions yesterday, market breadth closed negative, with 12 gainers against 35 losers.Precisely, Japaul Oil led the losers’ chart by 7.32 per cent to close at 38 kobo, while Eterna Oil shed 5.04 per cent to close at N6.41 per share.

First Aluminium and Prestige Assurance depreciated by five per cent each to close at 38 kobo and 57 kobo, respectively, while Cement Company of Northern Nigeria declined by 4.86 per cent to close at N23.50 per share.

Union Bank appreciated by 4.24 per cent to close at N6.15, while Africa Prudential Insurance gained 3.90 per cent to close at N4 per share.On the other hand, C&I Leasing recorded the highest price gain of 4.66 per cent, to close at N2.02 per share, as Unity Bank gained 4.49 per cent to close at 93 kobo, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) appreciated by 4.38 per cent to close at N1.43 per share.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) shed 24.61 absolute points, representing a decline of 0.06 per cent to close at 37,963.93 points, while the market capitalisation declined by N9 billion to close at N13.752 trillion.The decline was occasioned by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are Okomu Oil, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria, Seplat Petroleum Development Company (Seplat), Mobil Nigeria and Zenith Bank.

Analysts at Cordros Capital noted that despite still-positive macro-economic fundamentals and favourable stock entry prices, the absence of likely catalysts to spark off potential gains in the equities market dents our positive outlook for the market in the medium term.Also analysts from APT Securities and Funds Limited said “the ASI remained within the red zone for two consecutive days. We anticipate positive reactions to second quarter results of quoted companies.”

However, the volume of trade depreciated by 31.02 per cent to 372.24 million shares, worth N3.18 billion, and traded in 3,800 deals.Transactions in the shares of Sterling Bank topped the activity chart with 172.63 million shares valued at N241.03 million, as Zenith Bank followed with 31.54 million shares worth N792.74 million, while Transcorp traded 22.92 million shares valued at N31.98 million.United Capital traded 21.18 million shares valued at N69.34 million, while UBA transacted 16.62 million shares worth N175.79 million.