By Nse Anthony-Uko
(Sundiata Finance) – The Nigerian stocks market recorded its largest decline in seven weeks on Tuesday, following profit taking activities by investors . In summary, the All Share Index (ASI) shed 358.87 absolute points, representing an decline of 0.96 per cent to close at 36,953.41 points. The market capitalisation shed N124 billion, to close at N12.879 trillion.
The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Nestle, Guinness, Unilever, Dangote Cement and Zenith Bank. Also, on the conclusion of the MSCI’s November 2017 Semi-Annual Index Review, FBN Holdings, Forte Oil, Guinness Nigeria and PZ Cussons Nigeria have been deleted from the main MSCI Frontier Markets Indexes and added to the MSCI Frontier Markets Small Cap Indexes.
At the same time, Cadbury Nigeria, Diamond Bank, First City Monument Bank, GlaxoSmith, Skye Bank and Sterling Bank have been deleted from the MSCI Frontier Markets Small Cap Indexes.
Capital market analysts noted that with this news, the stocks market will see some sell pressure on stocks deleted from the MSCI Frontier Markets Small Cap Indexes in the coming sessions. They also noted that “Following yesterday’s unprecedented loss, we expect bargain hunting to drag market performance positive in subsequent trading sessions.”
Similarly, market breadth closed negative, recording 12 gainers against 32 losers. Vitafoam recorded the highest price gain of 4.98 per cent, to close at N2.95 per share. Nahco followed with a gain of 4.79 per cent to close at N3.72, while Medi-View Air appreciated by 4.40 per cent to close at N1.66 per share.
NEM Insurance went up by 4.26 per cent to close at N1.47 and AG Leventis rose by 3.51 per cent to close at 59 per share. On the other hand, Caverton led the losers’ chart by 9.38 per cent, to close at N1.45 per share. CI Leasing followed with a decline of 8.81, Unilever Nigeria shed five per cent to close at N38 per share.
Learn Africa declined by 4.85 per cent to close at 98 kobo, while Eterna depreciated by 4.77 per cent to close at N3.99, per share. The total volume traded depreciated by 29.1 per cent to 238.36 million shares, worth N3.42 billion, and traded in 4,238 deals. Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings topped the activity chart with 56.16 billion shares valued at N34.8 million.
Diamond Bank followed with 31.28 million shares worth N34.8 million, Stanbic IBTC traded 14.31 million shares valued at N609.6 million. Transcorp traded 10.67 million shares valued at N14.49 million, while Zenith Bank sold 9.7 million shares worth N236.9 million.