Equities Market Declines Further on Sustained Bearish Trading

The equities market remained bearish as the new week commenced yesterday with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) declined 0.34 per cent to 37,266.86.

Bellwether tickers such as GTBank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank and UBA were among the price losers. Although the earnings season for companies to release their half year (H1) is here, investors have remained cautious in trading.

However, analysts at Meristem Securities Limited said: “We envisage the bearish run of the market will ease over the coming days as results are being released and the low prices stir bargain hunting activities on the counters.”

The price losers’ was led by LearnAfrica Plc, Multitrex Plc, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc and Wema Bank Plc with 10 per cent drop apiece.

Custodian Investment Plc shed 9.9 per cent, while Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc went down 9.6 per cent. Oando Plc and ABC Transport Plc went down by 9.3 per cent and 8.7 per cent in that order.

Other top price losers were: Equity Assurance Plc (8.3 per cent); Regency Alliance Assurance Plc 7.6 per cent); Tantalizer Plc (7.4 per cent); Unity Bank Plc (6.8 per cent); CAP Plc (6.7 per cent) and Forte Oil Plc (6.5 per cent).

On the other hand, NAHCO Plc led the seven stocks that recorded price gainers with 9.9 per cent, trailed by Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc (8.7 per cent, while LASACO Assurance Plc chalked up 5.8 per cent. UAC of Nigeria Plc and Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc garnered 5.2 per cent and 3.1 per cent in that order.

Transcorp Plc, which released its results for the half year ended June 30, 2018, equally made the price gainers’ table with 2.4 per cent rise.

Transcorp posted increased revenue, profit before tax(PBT) and profit after tax (PAT). Revenue rose by 58 per cent from N34.174 billion to N54.089 billion. PBT grew by 163 per cent to N11.944 billion, from N4.532 billion in 2017, while PAT rose higher by 199 per cent from N1.574 billion to N4.716 billion.

Meanwhile, activity level was mixed as volume traded rose 43.0 per cent to 303.5 million units while value traded decreased 37 per cent to N2.0 billion. The most traded stocks by volume were Medview Airline Plc (100.0 million shares), FBN Holdings Plc (42.9 million shares) Transcorp Plc (40.6 million shares) while FBN Holdings Plc (N445.8 million), Zenith Bank (N398.5 million) and Medview Airline Plc (N198.4 million) were the top traded stocks by value.