Stock Market Depreciates by N112bn  on Profit-taking in Dangote Cement, Others

Kayode Tokede

The stock market section of Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) yesterday sustained its bearish performance with N112 billion loss, following investors’ profit-taking in in Dangote Cement Plc and 29 others.

As the stock price of Dangote Cement depreciated by 1.4 per cent, the NGX All-Share Index declined by 204.17 basis points or 0.30 per cent, to close at 68,082.11 basis points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value lost N112 billion to close at N37.262 trillion.

Accordingly, the Month-to-Date (MtD) and Year-to-Date (YtD) returns moderated to 2.3per cent and 32.8per cent, respectively.

Also, the market breadth closed negative as 26 stocks gained relative to 30 decliners. Beta Glass recorded the highest price gain of 9.97 per cent to close at N51.85, per share. Cadbury Nigeria followed with a gain of 9.86 per cent to close at N15.60 and CWG up by 9.81 per cent to close at N5.26, per share.

Tantalizers rose by 9.52 per cent to close at 46 kobo, while Guinea Insurance gained 9.09 per cent to close at 36 kobo, per share. On the other hand, Morison Industries led the losers’ chart by 9.89 per cent to close at N2.55, per share. Courteville Business Solutions followed with a decline of 7.69 per cent to close at 69 kobo, while NASCON Allied Industries lost 6.83 per cent to close at N56.60, per share.

R.T. Briscoe Nigeria declined 6.82 per cent to close at 41 kobo, while Wema Bank shed 6.42 per cent to close at N5.10, per share.

The total volume traded fell by 0.15 per cent to 378.089 million units, valued at N8.376 billion, and exchanged in 8,106 deals. Transactions in the shares of Oando topped the activity chart with 91.635 million shares valued at N678.966 million. Omatek Ventures followed with 29.973 million shares worth N19.207 million, while Dangote Sugar Refinery traded 23.394 million shares valued at N1.484 billion.

Fidelity Bank traded 22.166 million shares valued at N193.577 million, while Access Holdings transacted 20.804 million shares worth N361.865 million.

On market outlook, analysts at Afrinvest Limited stated “we anticipate a reversal in the bearish performance as investors position for bargain hunting opportunities.”