NSE market capitalisation loses N127bn amid profit taking in blue chips

Bears dominated trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday with investors net worth dropping by N127 billion due to profit taking.

Consequently, the market capitalisation shed N128 billion to close at N15.176 trillion against N15.304 trillion achieved on Monday to halt three consecutive gaining streak.

Also, the All-Share Index lost 247.80 points or 0.83 per cent to 29,462.76 compared with 29,710.56 achieved on Monday.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Dangote Cement, Guaranty Trust Bank, Access Bank, BUA Cement and Zenith Bank.

Capital market analysts attributed the decline to profit taking, mostly on bellwether stocks.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said that “we expect performance in the market to remain mixed in the near term. However, there are still opportunities for bargain hunting.”

It was reported that market breadth closed slightly negative with 15 gainers and 16 losers.

Arbico dominated the laggards’ chart in percentage terms, losing 9.97 per cent to close at N3.16 per share.

Eterna came second with a loss of 9.72 per cent to close at N3.25, while Champion Breweries dropped 7.14 to close at 91k per share.

Access Bank lost 6.51 per cent to close at N10.05, while Guaranty Trust Bank dipped 5.29 per cent to close at N32.20 per share.

Conversely, Law Union and Rock Insurance led the gainers’ table in percentage terms with a growth gain of 9.09 per cent to close at 60k per share.

Unity Bank followed with 6.15 per cent to close at 69k, while Lafarge Africa appreciated by 6.12 per cent to close at N17.35 per share.

Honeywell Flour Mills improved by 4.85 per cent to close at N1.08, while Courteville appreciated by 4.35 per cent to close at 24k per share.

However, the total volume of shares traded increased marginally by 2.2 per cent with 272.84 million shares, worth N3.71 billion traded in 4,945 deals.

This is against a turnover of 272.84 million shares valued at N3.71 billion transacted in 4,945 deals on Monday.

Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 57.81 million shares valued at N1.31 billion.

Access Bank followed with 33 million shares worth N340.75 million, while United Bank for Africa traded 22.43 million shares valued at N193.72 million.

Oando traded 18.21 million shares valued at N65.59 million, while FCMB Group transacted 16.24 million shares worth N32.33 million.