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Equities lose N18bn as NSE index falls

By on July 25, 2015

The market capitalisation of equities listed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Thursday dropped to N10.685bn from N10.703 the previous day, as the All-Share Index shed 0.17 per cent.

The NSE ASI fell by 50.79 basis points to close the day at 31,216.72 basis points.

Of the nine other indices, seven also depreciated, one remained unchanged, while the banking index appreciated by 0.18 per cent to close at 1,418.79 basis points.

Twenty-eight stocks recorded price losses on Thursday, led by Northern Nigeria Flour Mills Plc, which declined by 4.99 per cent to close at N17.15 per share.

It was followed by Ikeja Hotel Plc, Red Star Express Plc, Jos International Breweries Plc and Airline Services And Logistics Plc.

The top gainers are Berger Paints Plc, Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc, Caverton Offshore Support Group Plc, 7-Up Bottling Company Plc and Beta Glass Company Plc.

Berger gained 10.15 per cent to close at N10.31 per share; Neimeth appreciated by 9.66 per cent to close at N1.59 per share; Caverton rose by 4.89 per cent to close at N3.86 per share; 7-Up was up by 4.86 per cent to close at N194.00 per share, and Betaglass increased by 4.77 per cent to close at N39.00 per share.

In all, 208.438 million shares valued at N3.239bn were traded in 3,725 deals on Thursday, compared to 329.289 million shares valued at N2.581bn in 4,457 deals on Wednesday.

Analysts at Meristem Securities Limited, in their investment guide for the week, had attributed the prolonged dampened mood in the equities market to the dearth of policy direction by the current government coupled with investors’ skepticism ahead of the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria scheduled for July 23 and 24, 2015.

“We expect the outcome of the MPC meeting, inflow of H1:2015 results as well as policy actions or pronouncements from the government to dictate the direction of trade in the coming week.”

The analysts said, “While the market expects a relaxation of foreign exchange trading rules, the unavailability of a viable alternative makes the adoption of same impractical. We therefore expect the MPC, in the upcoming meeting, to retain policy variables.”

 

[Punch]