Shares maintain free fall, indices down by 0.49%

Activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continued on the losing streak on Tuesday with the market indices extending their loss by 0.49 per cent.

The All-Share Index, which opened at 28,341.03, shed 140.15 points or 0.49 per cent to close at 28,200.88 due to negative sentiment.

The market capitalisation lost N68 billion or 0.49 per cent to close at N13.744 trillion in contrast to the N13.812 trillion achieved on Monday.

Thus, the month-to-date and year-to-date losses worsened to 3.29 per cent and 10.28 per cent, respectively.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which were Okomu Oil, Chemical and Allied Products (CAP), Forte Oil, Conoil and Flour Mills of Nigeria.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited expected the negative performance to persist throughout the week as sell pressure dominated activities.

Cordros Capital Limited said its outlook for equities in the short to medium term remained conservative in the absence of catalysts to drive positive market returns.

Market breadth remained negative with 10 gainers versus 32 losers.

Red Star Express recorded the highest price gain of 9.81 per cent to close at N5.71 per share.

Lasaco Assurance followed with a gain 9.68 per cent to close at 34k, while NEM Insurance appreciated by 4.09 per cent to close at N2.29 per share.

Nestle Nigeria went up by 1.79 per cent to close at N1,250, while Guaranty Trust Bank appreciated by 1.72 per cent to close at N29.50 per share.

Conversely, CAP and Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) led the price losers’ chart by 10 per cent each to close at N24.75 and N13.05 per share, respectively.

Okomu Oil followed with a decline of 9.93 per cent to close at N55.80 per share.

Forte Oil lost 9.90 per cent to close at N18.65, while Flour Mills of Nigeria shed 9.88 per cent to close at N14.60 per share.

The volume of shares traded rose by 23.95 per cent with 217.13 million shares worth N1.8 billion traded in 3,595 deals.

This was against the 175.17 million shares valued at N2.14 billion transacted in 3,111 deals on Monday.

Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings topped the activity chart with 46.76 million shares valued at N266.24 million.

Courteville Business Solutions followed with 46.74 million shares worth N9.46 million, while UBA traded 24.17 million shares valued at N136.49 million.

Transcorp traded 12.40 million shares valued at N12.48 million, while Zenith Bank transacted 10.97 million shares worth N204.04 million.