The Nigeria local bourse continued it’s losing trajectory on Thursday propelled by the loses in the share prices of consumer goods giants P Z Cussons Nigeria Plc (NGX: PZ) and UAC of Nigeria Plc (NGX: UACN).
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Benchmark All-Share Index (NGX ASI) of the Nigerian Exchange’s equities market lost 0.12% on Thursday to close trading at 101,239.10 point.
Week-to-date, the NGX ASI is down by 4.24%, having suffered three days of loses in the week as at the end of Trading on Thursday. On a month to date basis, the index is marginally up by 0.08%, while on year to date, it is still up by 35.39%.
The market capitalization also depreciated by 0.12% on Thursday, with ₦67 billion being taken off Investors’ wealth. The year to date gains still remain impressive with ₦14.48 trillion capital gains being earned as at the end of Thursday’s trading.
The share price of PZ dipped barely a day after it announced that it has entered a negative asset position, and called an Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders.
Omatek Ventures Plc (NGX: OMATEK) emerged as the top gainer, advancing by 10%. Daar Communications Plc (NGX: DAARCOMM) was the biggest loser, with it’s share price shading 10%.
Activity Level
The activity level waned on Thursday with the volume of shares traded, value of shares traded, and no of deals done all decreasing.
The volume of shares traded, value of shares traded and no of deals done all decreased, declining by 16.45%, 24.54% and 15.83% respectively.
At the end of trading, 252.99 million shares valued at ₦4.94 billion had exchanged hands in 7,248 deals.
Shares of FBN Holdings Plc (NGX: FBNH), United Bank for Africa Plc (NGX: UBA) and Access Holdings Plc (NGX: ACCESSCORP) were the most traded stocks by volume with 31.85 million, 322.28 million and 14.48 million shares respectively.
Shares of FBN Holdings Plc (NGX: FBNH), United Bank for Africa Plc (NGX: UBA) and Airtel Africa Plc (NGX: AIRTELAFRI) were the most traded by value, with their shares worth ₦917.27 million, ₦533.24 million and ₦481.76 million respectively exchanging hands.
Top gainers and losers
In the day’s trading session, 20 stocks advanced against 28 decliners.
The top five gainers were;
- Omatek Ventures Plc (NGX: OMATEK): It gained 10% to close at ₦28.70.
- Sunu Assurances Nigeria Plc (NGX: SUNUASSUR): It gained 10% to close at ₦2.09
- Juli Plc (NGX: JULI): It gained 9.79% to close at ₦2.13
- Caverton Offshore Support Group Plc (NGX: CAVERTON): It gained 9.52% to close at ₦1.84.
- Nem Insurance Plc (NGX: NEM): It gained 9.09% to close at ₦6.60.
The top five losers were;
- Daar Communications Plc (NGX: DAARCOMM): It lost 10.00% to close at ₦0.72.
- Wema Bank Plc (NGX: WEMABANK): It lost 9.93% to close at ₦7.80.
- PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc (NGX: PZ): It lost 9.89% to close at ₦24.60.
- Academy Press (NGX: ACADEMY): It lost 9.84% to close at ₦1.74.
- Morison Industries Plc (NGX: MORISON): It lost 9.76% to close at ₦1.85.
One of the five indices under our watch advanced, three decline while one closed flat.
- Banking Index: The index lost 0.44% to close at 871.80 points (YTD: -2.83%).
- Industrial Index: The industrial index gained 0.04% to close at 4,908.22 points (YTD: +80.96%).
- Consumer Goods Index: The index lost 0.08% to 1,608.17 points (YTD: +43.42%).
- Oil & Gas Index: It closed flat at 1,312.22 points (YTD: +25.80%).
- Insurance Index: The index lost 0.22% to close at 385.14 points (YTD: +19.74%).
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur