NSE market indices slide further

Transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) ended on depressed note on Tuesday as the market indices recorded further slide. The All-Share Index dropped by 55.3 points to close at 27,217.27 from the 27, 272.57 posted on Monday. Similarly, the market capitalisation, which opened at N8.69 trillion, lost N20 billion to close at N8.67 trillion as a result of price losses by some blue chips. Malam Garba Kurfi, the Managing Director of APT Securities and Funds Ltd., attributed the depreciation to profit taking by some investors to prepare for Sallah celebrations.
Kurfi said that investors were taking advantage of price gains recorded by some multinational companies to recoup their investments. NewGold ETF topped the price losers’ chart with a loss of N10 to close at N2, 626 per unit, followed by Cadbury which lost N1.54 to close at N29.35 per share. Nigerian Breweries lost N1 to close at N138 per share, Presco dropped 92k to close at N14, per share, while PZ Cussons depreciated by 50k to close at N29.50 per share. On the other hand, Nestle led the gainers’ chart, appreciating by N13.50 to close at N695.50 per share and was trailed by Guinness which lost N5.01 to close at N270.01 per share.
CAP gained N1.50 to close at N31.52 per share, UAC Property chalked up 57k to close at N11.97per share, while ETI garnered 35k to close at N12.35 per share. Investors exchanged 247.92 million shares worth N2.70 billion in 5,264 deals against 278.75 million shares valued at N2.71 billion traded in 4,552 deals on Monday. The banking sub-sector was the most active with a turnover of 174.35 million shares worth N1.82 billion in 2,882 deals.
Zenith Bank was the most traded stock with 38.33 million shares worth N696.79 million exchanged in 285 deals. First Bank came second with 29.27 million shares valued at N497.54 traded in 686 deals, while UBA traded 20.73 million shares worth N104.81 million in 337 deals.