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Nestle, Nigerian Breweries lead equities lower

By BusinessNews Staff on January 15, 2015

The market capitalisation of the listed equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange declined by N115bn or 1.14 per cent to N9.895tn as highly capitalised companies, including Nestle Nigeria Plc and Nigerian Breweries Plc, recorded losses.

The decline comes a day after equities rose for the first time this year; market capitalisation was up by 0.3 per cent on Monday after shedding over 13 per cent last week. Losses by top firms, however, meant the rise could not be sustained.

Nestle was down by N13.25 from N812.25 to N799 per share, while Nigerian Breweries fell N5.4 to N139 per share.

Other top decliners on Tuesday include Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, which fell by N9.93 to close at N305.7 per share, and Forte Oil Plc with a N7.49 share price depreciation to close at N222.51 per share.

Also down was Total Nigeria Plc. It lost N3.09 to close at N141.66 from N144.75.

Gains by some other firms, including Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, did little to offset the losses as they were mostly marginal.

Among the gainers for the day were Beta Glass Plc, which rose by 82 kobo to close at N28.6; Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, which appreciated by 62 kobo to close at N36 per share, and Union Bank of Nigeria Plc with a share price appreciation of 59 kobo to close at N9.01 per share.

Oando Plc gained 57 kobo to close at N16.11, while Zenith Bank Plc was up by 42 kobo to close at N16.42 per share.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index also rose by 1.14 per cent or 344.86 basis points, compared to the 0.3 per cent appreciation, which lifted it to 30,234.72 basis points the previous day.

According to the Exchange; the most traded equities for the day are Access Bank Plc, FBN Holdings Plc, AIICO Insurance Plc, Wapic Insurance Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc.

Investors sold 89.121 million shares of Access Bank, 57.508 million shares of FBN Holdings, N18.427 million shares of AIICO Insurance, 16.696 million Wapic Insurance shares and 15.128 million shares of GTB.

The positive close on Monday had been attributed to Dangote Cement, which is the most capitalised stock on the Exchange.

The cement manufacturer had risen by 4.88 per cent or N7.75 to close at N166.40 per share.

The Chief Executive Officer, Enterprise Stockbrokers Plc, Mr. Rotimi Fakayejo, had explained that if the company had not made any gain on Monday, the stock market would have closed lower by over one per cent.

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