Special Economic Analysis: Equities Market Closes Flat On Late Pressure

The Equities market of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed flat at the first trading session of the week amid last minute sell off of some bellwether stocks.

The All-Share Index (ASI), the benchmark stock index of the NSErecorded a marginal dipped by 3.74 basis points to close at 24,423.37 points compared to 24,432.51points recorded the last trading session of the preceding week.

The negative market performance was mainly driven by the share prices depreciation of Nigerian Brewery and Guaranty Trust Bank which recorded 1.0% decline each.

The total value of stocks traded in the floor of the NSEon Monday was N8.4 trillion, with a loss of N3.1 billion in the value of traded stocks.

However, the market activities was strengthen as the volume and value of stocks traded surged from 1902% and 547.3% to close at 3.5 billion units and N6.0 billion respectively. This was majorly influenced by major crossings in TIGERBRANDS which accounted for 95.2% and 68.0% of the volume and value of shares traded.

The Oil and Gas index grew by 1.2% as SEPLAT Oil recorded 5.1% share price gain to close at 63 kobo per share to follow LEARNAFRICA which led the gainers chart with 9.9% appreciation to close at 89 kobo per share.

Also, the Industrial Goods and Insurance Indices both gained 0.2%, while the Consumer Goods and the Banking Indices depreciated by 0.2% and 0.5% respectively

UNITYBNK gained 5.0% to close at N1.84, while GLAXOMITH recorded a 4.8% profit to close at N19.00 per share. ETERNA had 4.5% growth to close at N1.21 per share, while AFRIPUD, LIVESTOCK, CCNN, NEIMETH and DIAMONDBNK share prices fell by 4.7%, 4.6%, 42%, 4.2% and 3.9% respectively and ranked the top five losers.

According to Afrinvest West Africa, a Lagos based investment house “we expect the market continue to trade sideways; driven by dividend-positioning and short-term active trading.”