Naira hits 2017 best but stock exchange loses N81 billion

The Nigerian naira continued on a gaining streak to hit its best point in 2017 as the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE)’s two-week bullish trend was halted on Tuesday.

The naira appreciated to as much as N362 per dollar at the parallel market — its best position in 2017, after opening at 490 in January.

On the official side of the market, the local  currency traded at 304.55 to the greenback, maintaining its recent stability.

The all share index (ASI) of the Nigerian bourse dropped by 1.16 percent, as market capitalisation retreated to N11.131 trillion from  N11.212 trillion posted on Monday — shedding N81 billion.

NAN reports that the index, which opened at 32,578.38, lost 378 points or 1.16 per cent to close at 32, 200.38.

Market analysts attributed the market pullback to profit taking embarked upon by some short-term investors to take advantage of the growth posted by the market in the last two weeks.

NAN reports that Mobil Oil topped the losers’ chart, dropping by N31.16 to close at N288.56 per share.

Dangote Cement trailed with a loss of N10.50 to close at N199.50, while Unilever was down by N1.70 to close at N35.79 per share.

Conoil depreciated by N1.67 to close at N39.50 and Axa Mansard declined by 11k to close at N2.37 per share.

On the other hand, Seplat recorded the highest price gain to lead the gainers’ table, gaining N17.50 to close at N367.50 per share.

Nestle gained N10 to close at N965, while 7UP chalked up N2.08 to close at N92.12 per share.

Lafarge Africa appreciated by N2 to close at N53, while Flour Mills added N1.21 to close at N26.72 per share.

NAN reports that the banking equities dominated trading with Diamond Bank emerging the most active, accounting for 133.51 million shares worth N168 .66 million.

Fidelity Bank followed with 76.83 million shares valued at N102.59 million, while Access Bank exchanged a total of 69.59 million shares worth N652.13 million.

FBN Holdings traded 66.466 million shares valued at N484.19 million and FCMB Group sold 59.74 million shares worth N79.27 million.

In spite of the drop in market indices, the volume of shares traded closed higher with an exchange of 744.99 million shares valued at N6.52 billion traded in 7,841 deals.

NAN reports that this was in contrast with a turnover of 640.44 million shares worth N7.68 billion transacted in 7,024 deals on Monday.