Easter Holiday: NSE Records 1.19% loss
Activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) resumed Tuesday on a negative note after the Easter holidays, with major blue-chip stocks recording marginal losses and price fall.
The market indices, market capitalisation and All-Share Index, fell by 1.19 per cent as a result of losses recorded by some highly-capitalised equities. A breakdown of the price movement table indicates Nestlé, with the highest loss, led the losers’ chart, dipping by N21.93 to close at N728.07 per share.
Nestle was trailed on the log by Dangote Cement that posted a N4 loss to close at N180 while Ecobank Transnational Incorporated dropped by 41k to close at N7.79 per share. Similarly, Oando fell by 27k to close at N5.32 million with Union Bank of Nigeria dropping 26k to close at N4.98 per share.
Accordingly, the market capitalisation that opened at N8.826 trillion lost N105 billion or 1.19 per cent to close at N8.721 trillion. Also, the All-Share Index dipped 302.04 points or 1.19 per cent to close at 25,207.07 compared to 25,510.01 figure posted on Thursday, the last day of trading before the Easter break.
Leading the gainers’ table for the day on the other hand, Seplat Petroleum Development grew by N10 to close at N400 per share. Other gainers include Forte Oil with a 50k gain to close at N44.50 and Dangote Floor’s 18k gain to close at N4.40 per share. Also, FBN Holdings went up by 16k to close at N3.36, with Stanbic IBTC recording a 14k to close at N18.90 per share.
As expected, the banking sub-sector remained the most active with Diamond Bank as the most traded and accounting for 51.81 million shares worth N42.33 million. Following on its heels is Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) with 40.88 million shares valued at N1 billion, while FBN Holdings traded 20.66 million shares worth N67.81 million. United Bank for Africa (UBA) sold 20.19 million shares worth N106.75 million while Fidelity Bank traded 19.13 million shares valued at N15.85 million.
Overall, investors purchased and traded about 254.96 million shares worth N2.45 billion in over 2,854 deals. This figure is in contrast with the 349.28 million shares valued at N2.28 billion traded in 2,826 deals the preceding week.
