INVESTORS LOSE N121BN IN ONE WEEK

By NBF News

The declining fortune of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, continued last week, as the value of investors' holding in the secondary segment of the Nigerian capital market dipped by N120.877 billion.

Investors' holding, represented by the market capitalization, depreciated by 1.72 per cent to close the week at N6.909 trillion from N7.029 trillion at which it opened the week.

The All-share index also dipped by 1.72 per cent or 377.89 basis points to close the week at 21,598.98 points from 21,299.55 points at  which it commenced the week's trading.

There were only three days of trading last week, as the market was closed, Tuesday and Wednesday due to the public holidays declared by the federal government to mark the Moslem festival.

Dangote Cement Plc led 45 other companies on the price losers' table, dropping by N7.11 to close at N104 per share from N111.11 per share at which it started the week's trading, Flour Mills Nigeria Plc followed with a loss of N5.50 to close at N76.00 per share, from N81.50 per share at which it opened and PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc dipped by N1.75 to close at N29.25 per share.

Other share price losers include: Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc N1.59, Dangote Flour Mills Plc N1.51, Unilever Nigeria Plc N0.90, Cadbury Nigeria Plc N0.41, Nigerian Breweries Plc N0.39, BOC Gases N0.35 and John Holt Plc N0.34 among others.

On the contrary, Guinness Nigeria Plc led 18 other companies on the price gainers' category, rising by N3.00 to close at N218 per share from N215 per share at which it opened the week, Okomu Oil Palm Plc followed with a gain of N1.36 to close at N18.37 per share, from N17.01 per share and Lafarge Cement WAPCO Plc garnered N1.00 to close at N42.00 per share.

Other share price gainers include: Nestle Nigeria Plc N0.99, Zenith Bank Plc N0.59, GTBank Plc N0.59, First Bank of Nigeria Plc N0.22, NCR (Nigeria) Plc N0.19, Roads Nigeria Plc N0.17 and Diamond Bank Plc N0.13 among others.

Also, a decline was recorded in trading, as a turnover of 611.164 million shares valued at N3.557 billion was recorded in1the week under review in 3,704 deals, down by 64.39 per cent from the previous week's turnover of 1.716 billion shares valued at 12.043 billion in 24,817 deals.

The Banking sub-sector recorded the highest patronage in the sectorial analysis, accounting for 59.98 per cent of the market turnover, 366.586 million shares valued at N2.208 billion in 7,185 deals. Shares of soon-to-be-acquired Intercontinental Bank enjoyed the most patronage in the sub-sector, trading 59.356 million shares valued at N41.549 million in 51 deals, followed by its acquirer, Access Bank Plc, with the exchange of 46.061 million shares valued at N263.693 million in 562 deals. Zenith Bank Plc trailed with the exchange of 39.47 million shares valued at N494.06 million in 981 deals.