Stock market reverses positive trend as profit taking plunges index by 0.2%

Transactions on the equities sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) reversed the upward trend to close on a downturn yesterday, following price depreciation suffered by major highly capitalised stocks, causing the All-Share Index to dip by 0.2 per cent.

At the close of transactions yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 51.92 absolute points, representing 0.16 per cent, to close at 32,121.74 points. Similarly, market capitalisation shed N19 billion, to close at N11.979 trillion.

Yesterday’s performance was influenced by price depreciation in medium and large capitalised stocks, among which are, Seplat Petroleum Development Company, Cement Company Northern Nigeria (CCNN), GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria, Ecobank Transnational Inc (ETI) and eTranzact International.

Analysts attributed the drop in indices to profit taking by investors on the exchange. According to them, investors leveraged the marginal price appreciation recorded in the past few days to recoup their investment.

Despite the decline, analysts expressed optimism that the benchmark index will post a positive close for the week.

Specifically, analysts at APT Securities and Funds Limited noted that yesterday’s negative outing is expected for correction. “However we expect to see more activities and bumpy outing to be driven by bargain hunters’ activities.”

Market breadth closed negative with eight gainers against 20 losers. Consolidated
Hallmark Insurance recorded the highest price gain of 7.69 per cent, to close at 28 kobo, per share.

Jaiz Bank followed with a gain of five per cent, to close at 63 kobo, while Access Bank rose by 1.67 per cent to close at N6.10, per share. United Capital appreciated by 1.54 per cent to close at N3.30, while Guaranty Trust Bank went up by 0.93 per cent to close at N37.95, per share.

On the other hand, NC Nichols led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent, to close at 54 kobo, per share. eTranzact followed with a decline 9.90 per cent to close at N2.64, while CCNN declined by five per cent to close at N19, per share.

Sovereign Trust Insurance declined by 3.85 per cent to close at 25 kobo, while Africa Prudential down by 3.70 per cent, to close at N4.69, per share.

Total volume traded went down marginally by 47.96 per cent to 208.6 million units, valued at N2.78 billion, and exchanged in 3,246 deals. Zenith Bank traded with 45.37 million shares valued at N1.11 billion.

Guaranty Trust Bank followed with 23.08 million shares worth N872.94 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 20.17 million shares valued at N46.46 million.

Access Bank traded 15.61 million shares valued at N94.18 million, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) transacted 13.86 million shares worth N17.54 million.