NSE: Index defies July inflation rate figure, down by 0.60%

The All-Share Index at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday dropped further by 0.60 per cent in spite of July inflation rate figure released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The NBS released the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation with the index dropping by 0.09 per cent points from 11.23 per cent in June to 11.14 per cent in July.

The bureau, in the report released on Wednesday, said that this was the 18th consecutive decline in headline index.

However, the All-Share Index, after over six hours of trading, dipped 213.41 points or 0.60 per cent to close at 35,074.82 points against 111.05 points achieved on Tuesday.

Similarly, the market capitalisation, which opened at N12.883 trillion, lost N78 billion or 0.61 per cent to close at N12.805 trillion due to Nestle price loss.

Mazi Okechukwu Unegbu, the Managing Director, Maxifund Investment Ltd., told our reporter in Lagos that the figures released by NBS were not realistic.

Unegbu said the figures were not a reflection of the economy, adding that the market was contending with a lot of issues.

He highlighted some of the issues to include election uncertainties and withdrawal of money from the market by foreign investors due to higher interest rates in U.S, among others.

Unegbu said that government needed to kick-start the economy through jobs creation for the impact to be felt by ordinary Nigerians.

He said that politicians should stop heating up the economy with unguided statements and threats.

Unegbu said that politicians come up with realistic template and allow the citizenry to decide whom to vote for when the time comes.

It was reported that Nestle dominated the losers’ table with a loss of N60 to close at N1,500 per share.

Berger Paint trailed with a loss of 70k to close at N6.50, while Zenith International Bank depreciated by 50k to close at N23 per share.

Oando decreased by 45k to close at N4.55, while Air Services also went down by 45k to close at N4.50 per share.

Conversely, Total recorded the highest gain, leading the gainers’ table by N5 to close at N190 per share.

FBN Holdings followed with a gain of 30k to close at N9.85, while Forte Oil appreciated by 15k to close at N23.15 per share.

May and Baker gained 7k to close at N2.35, while Linkage Assurance increased by 6k to close at 68k per share.

An analysis of the activity chart indicates that United Bank for Africa maintained its leadership as the most traded, exchanging 28.27 million shares worth N255.04 million.

Zenith International Bank Plc followed with an account of 22.39 million shares valued at N518.40 million, while FCMB Group sold 21.01 million shares worth N38.66 million.

Guaranty Trust Bank traded 20.65 million shares valued at N785.45 million, while Transcorp sold 14.72 million shares worth N16.31 million.

In all, the volume of shares traded closed higher by 27.37 per cent with an exchange of 209.54 million shares valued at N2.90 billion in 4,044 deals.

This was in contrast with a turnover of 164.51 million shares worth N1.61 billion transacted in 3,448 deals on Tuesday.