NSE bleeds as investors lose N87bn in four days

Activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) ended in the red as stocks shed a total of N87 billion between Monday, August 6 and Thursday, August 9.

Market capitalisation dropped to N13.22 trillion on Thursday; the last time it was in such corridors was in December 2017.

There were 22 losers at the end of Thursday’s trading day as against 12 gainers.

NAN reports that Ambrose Omordion, the chief operating officer, InvestData Ltd., in Lagos, attributed the persistent decline to political risk ahead of the election and mixed sector quarter earnings announced by some companies.

Omordion said that second-quarter earnings had been mixed with most commercial banks posting a decline in loans growth, while several consumer goods companies recorded lower profits.

Mobil Oil topped the losers’ chart shedding N10 to close at N170 per share.

FBN Holdings trailed with a loss of 45k to close at N9.50, while Vitafoam was down by 36k to close at N3.24 per share.

PZ industries depreciated by 20k to close at N14.05, while Zenith Bank losing 15k to close at N23.60 per share.

On the other hand, International Breweries led the price gainers’ table, gaining 50k to close at N31 per share.

Sterling Bank followed with a gain of 13k to close at N1.49, while Ecobank Transnational gained 10k to close at N22.15 per share.

Eterna Oil also appreciated by 10k to close at N6.10, while Stanbic IBTC grew by 10k to close at N50 per share.

UBA was the most at active stock in volume terms, trading 27.22 million shares worth N260.24 million.

Law Union and Rock Insurance followed with 25 million shares valued at N22.50 million, while Zenith International Bank traded 19.92 million shares worth N71.39 million.

Courteville traded 19.69 million shares worth N4.13 million, while Regency Insurance sold 13.13 million shares valued at N3.05 million.

In all, a total of 188.26 million shares valued at N1.29 billion were transacted by investors in 2,795 deals.

This is in contrast to the 114.04 million shares worth N730.08 million traded in 2,610 deals on Wednesday.