Stock market reopens bearish, indices down by N45 billion

After the one day holiday declared by Federal Government to commemorate the Independence Day celebration on Monday, equity transactions re-opened for the first trading day of October bearish, following price losses suffered by major highly capitalised stocks, as market capitalisation plummeted by N45billion.

Specifically, at the close of trading yesterday on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), market capitalisation of listed equities dropped by 0.37 per cent to N12.171trillion from N12.216trillion recorded on Friday.

Also, the NSE- All -Share index fell by 133.89 basis points to 35306.09 points from 35439.98 points traded previously. Investors exchanged 634.326 million shares valued at N5.790billion in 3850 deals against 235.824 million shares worth N3.833billion in 2809 deals.

A breakdown of transactions yesterday, showed that Nestle Nigeria recorded the highest loss for the day, dropping by N5.11 kobo to close at N1215.00, Nigerian Breweries trailed with a loss of N3.00 to close at N162.00.

Dangote Cement fell by N2.99 kobo to close at N210.00, Forte Oil depreciated by N1.80 kobo to close at N48.10 kobo, while PZ Industries dropped N1.27 kobo to close at N24.23 kobo.

GlaxoSmithKline shed 1.00 kobo to close at N21.00 per share. Cadbury lost 0.53 kobo to close at N10.46 per share. Ecobank TransNational Incorporated depreciated by 0.30 kobo to close at N17.20 per share.

Nigerian Aviation Handling Company, and Seplat depreciated 0.10 kobo each to close at N3.00 and N450.00 per share respectively. Access Bank also fell by 0.08 kobo to close at N9.55 per share.

On the other hand, Total Nigeria Plc led the gainers table during the day, appreciating by N4.00 to close at N98.50 kobo, Guinness Nigeria Plc followed with a gain of N3.49 kobo to close at N98.50 kobo.

WAPCO gained N1.34 kobo to close at N52.02 kobo, Zenith International Bank improved by N0.61 kobo to close at N24.01 kobo, while Stanbic IBTC added N0.51 kobo to close at N40.01 kobo.

Union Bank and Dangote Sugar Refinery garnered 0.23 kobo to close at N5.99 and N13.93 per share. C&I Leasing gained 0.16 kobo to close at N1.79 per share. United Bank for Africa also added 0.15 kobo to close at N8.79 per share.

Further breakdown of yesterday’s trading indicated that FCMB group was the most active stock for the day, trading 370.405 million shares worth N377.977million, while FBNHoldings followed with 33.991 million shares valued at N193.588million.

Guaranty Trust Bank exchanged 33.484 million shares cost N1.340billion, Zenith International Bank sold 26.866 million shares valued at N641.093million, while United Capital sold 25.179 million shares worth N73.290million.