NSE bearish trend deepens

 Transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday maintained a bearish trend for four consecutive days as the market indicators depreciated by 4.06 per cent.

This is partly due to weak macroeconomic outlook as the price of crude oil, the primary determinant of the strength of the local economy, fell to record lows to $78.11 a barrel as at Wednesday.

The index deepened to 34,000 mark, having lost 1463.45 basis points to close at 34,494.93 as against 35,958.38 recorded on Wednesday.

Similarly, the market capitalisation, which opened at N11.909 trillion, lost N484 billion to close at N11.425 trillion as a result of huge loss posted by major blue chip companies.

Nestle topped the losers chart, having declined by N47.50 to close at N883.50 per share.

Forte Oil came second with N13.40 to close at N194.75, while Dangote Cement dipped N10.44 to close at N198.45 per share.

Lafarge Wapco followed with a loss of N8.73 to close at N80.88 and Nigerian Breweries lost N7.55 to close at N143.45 per share.

Conversely, NAHCO led the gainers’ table with a gain of 22k to close at N4.83 per share. RedStar Express followed with 18k to close at N4, while FCMB appreciated by 4k to close at N3.38 per share.

Eterna Oil gained 2k to close at N3.50 and Wema Bank grew by 1k to close at 95k per share.

The volume of shares traded increased to 1.33 billion valued at N8.37 billion exchanged in 4,188 deals.

This contrasted with 400.23 million shares worth N4.02 billion transacted in 4,374 deals on Wednesday.

The Financial Service Sector remained investors’ delight, as it accounted for 1.24 billion shares valued at N6.27 billion traded in 2,526 deals.

A further breakdown of the activity chart showed that the banking sub-sector traded 652.79 million shares worth N4.93 billion in 1,623 deals.

Sterling Bank emerged the most traded stock with a turnover of 339.70 million shares valued at N741.24 million achieved in 96 deals.

It was trailed by Continental Reinsurance which had 322.74 million shares worth N302.84 million in 56 deals.

Similarly, Mansard Insurance sold 172.09 million shares valued at N516.26 million transacted in 25 deals.