- Stocks Shed N235bn as Oando, Eterna, Others Slide
The Nigerian equities market declined heavily by N235bn on Monday as Oando Plc, Eterna Plc, Fidson Healthcare Plc, Diamond Bank Plc and Zenith Bank Plc emerged as the greatest losers at the close of trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
The NSE market capitalisation fell to N9.510tn from N9.745tn, driving the NSE All-Share Index to close at 27,513.69 basis points from 28,192.46 basis points recorded on Friday.
A total of 670.964 million shares valued at N7.912bn were traded in 4,034 deals.
Oando’s shares dropped to N7.79 from N8.62, losing N0.83 (9.63 per cent), while the share price of Eterna slid to N3.52 from N3.89, losing N0.37 (9.51 per cent).
Similarly, Fidson share price dropped by N0.18 (9.38 per cent) to close at N1.74 from N1.92, while Diamond Bank recorded a fall of N0.09 (nine per cent) on its share price to close at N0.91 from N1.
Responding to the huge loss, analysts at Meristem Securities Limited, said, “We attribute the day’s loss to the much expected profit-taking activities on counters that had gained in the market’s recent rally. The day’s loss was tempered by the 4.16 per cent price appreciation of Dangote Cement Plc.”
The market would have fared worse, as excluding the gains in Dangote Cement, total market loss would have hit 4.88 per cent.
The equities market, however, declined by 2.41 per cent to settle the year-to-date return at 2.38 per cent. It recorded its second consecutive trading day of decline, having recorded 41 losers and 10 gainers.
Law Union and Rock Insurance Plc topped the gainers’ list, advancing by five per cent, to close at a year high of N0.84.
Presco Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, Linkage Assurance Plc, and UACN Plc also featured on the top gainers’ list, appreciating by 4.26 per cent, 4.16 per cent, 3.85 per cent and 3.04 per cent, respectively.
All the sector indices recorded declines at the close of trading, with the NSE oil/gas index declining the most by 3.84 per cent. It was trailed by the NSE food/beverage, banking, industry and insurance indices, which dropped by 3.66 per cent, 3.27 per cent, 1.10 per cent and 1.03 per cent, accordingly.
In reaction to the open market operation auction held in the day, the financial system liquidity moderated slightly, thus driving the increase in money market rates.
The open buy-back and overnight rates advanced by 20.83 per cent and 23.83 per cent, respectively, to close at 48.33 per cent and 53.33 per cent accordingly, resulting in a 22.33 per cent hike in the average money market rate, which settled at 50.83 per cent.
The Central Bank of Nigeria is scheduled to hold a Treasury Bills Primary Market Auction on Wednesday. T-bills worth N110.94bn will mature, while an equal amount will be re-issued. The CBN is expected to auction N32.44bn, N22.82bn and N55.68bn in the 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day instruments, respectively.
Axamansard Insurance Plc, on the other hand, announced the retirement of Yetunde Ilori as the company’s Chief Executive Officer effective July 17, 2017.
The company’s board has nominated Kunle Ahmed (Executive Director -Technical) to take over from Ilori upon her retirement, a letter to the NSE by the insurer showed.
