Mixed earnings: NSE indicators maintain negative outlook

Activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), for the second consecutive day, maintained bearish trend, dropping further by 1.02 per cent due largely to mixed 2018 earnings reports.

Our correspondent reports that the market capitalisation on Tuesday, nosedive by N120 billion or 1.02 per cent to close at N11.677 trillion against N11.797 trillion on Monday.

The All-Share Index maintained the same direction, dropping by 323.30 points or 1.02 per cent to close at 31,313.36 compared with 31,636.66 posted on Monday.

The drop in market indices was contrary to expectations of some market analysts who were of the opinions that the market would rebound following relatively peaceful conduct of the general elections.

Commenting, Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd., told NAN that the lull was due to low liquidity in the system.

Omordion said that the low liquidity was as a result of early exit of smart money in the market.

He said that some smart investors whose expectations were dashed exited the market shortly after the presidential election.

Omordion said that mixed numbers emanating from quoted companies for 2018 financial year contributed to the development.

Meanwhile, Mobil recorded the highest loss during the day, declining by N5.10 to close at N165 per share.

International Breweries trailed with a loss of N2.65 to close at N24.05, while Guaranty Trust Bank dropped by N1.80 to N35.50 per share.

NASCON dipped N1 to close at N20.70, while Dangote Cement also depreciated by N1 to close at N194 per share.

Lafarge Africa dominated the gainers’ table, gaining 50k to close at N13 per share.

United Capital followed with a gain of 13k to close at N3.28, while UAC Property added 13k to close at N1.95 per share.

Africa Prudential increased by 12k to close at N4.92, while Union Bank of Nigeria gained 10k to close at N7 per share.

FBN Holdings was the most active in volume terms, exchanging 60.14 million shares worth N493.12 million.

Zenith Bank followed with an account of 46.46 million shares valued at N1.05 billion, while Diamond Bank exchanged 14.47 million shares worth N35.32 million.

Access Bank traded 11.45 million shares valued at N68.46 million, while United Bank for Africa sold 8.53 million shares worth N64.66 million.

In all, a total of 219.37 million shares valued at N2.93 billion was traded by investors in 3,345 deals, representing an increase of 70.89 per cent.

This was against 128.37 million shares worth N2.39 billion exchanged in 2,752 deals on Monday.