Stock market index slump further by N151 billion

Transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continued on a downturn yesterday, as more bluechip stocks depreciated in price, resulting to a further decrease in market capitalisation by N151 billion.
   
Tuesday, ASI fell by 290.49 points or 1.27 per cent to 22,629.92 points. Accordingly, investors lost N151 billion in value as market capitalisation declined to N11.794 trillion.
   
The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large value stocks, amongst which were; Guaranty Trust Bank, Julius Berger, Zenith Bank, Lafarge Africa and Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc (SEPLAT).
   
The Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Consulting Limited, Ambrose Omordion said: “We expect profit taking to continue since the index had formed another double top on mixed sentiment and negative news on oil price as smart money repositions their portfolios ahead of more corporate earnings and March inflation data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
 
“More companies have continued to notify the Exchange and investors of their virtual annual general meetings and closed period for 2020 first-quarter earnings reports.”
   
Market breadth also closed negative, with only four gainers versus 27 losers. Omoluabi Mortgage Bank recorded the highest price gain of 9.09 per cent, to close at 60 kobo, while NPF Micro Finance Bank followed with 8.70 per cent to close at N1.25, per share.
   
Lasaco Assurance rose 4.17 per cent to close at 25 kobo, and Learn Africa 2.11 per cent to close at 97 kobo, per share.
 
On the other hand, Champion Breweries and Oando Plc led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent each, to close at 81 kobo and N2.25, respectively, while Lafarge Africa followed with 9.21 per cent to close at N10.35, per share.
   
Fidelity Bank lost 8.99 per cent to close at N1.72, while Chams shed 8.70 per cent to close at 21 kobo, per share. The total volume traded fell 27.53 per cent to 250.346 million shares, worth N2.325 billion traded in 4,877 deals.
 
Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings topped the activity chart with 71.061 million shares valued at N298.701 million. Zenith Bank followed with 52.200 million shares worth N695.025 million.
   
Guaranty Trust Bank traded 24.435 million shares at N451.857 million.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 15.167 million shares valued at N85.91 million, while Fidelity Bank transacted 13.292 million shares worth N22.95 million.