Nigerian Stock Exchange Extend Losses by N232 Billion on Thursday

Nigeria’s equities market closed in the red for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday amid declining demand ahead of the festive period.

Lafarge Africa Plc, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, and MTN Nigeria Plc led the losers’ table to drag the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by 1.27 percent below the opening points.

The NSE All-Share Index depreciated by 1.27 percent from 35,021.26 index points it opened the day to close at 34,577.26 index points. While the value of the entire stock market declined by N232 billion from N18.304 trillion it opened the day to settle at N18.072 trillion.

So far this week, the Exchange has lost N293 billion from the N18.365 trillion it opened the week.

Investors traded 553,959,909 shares valued at N6.6 billion in 6,441 transactions during the trading hours of Thursday. The most-traded equities were GTBank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Transcorp Plc and FBN Holdings Plc.

Analysts expect the market to remain bearish in the near-term given what they described as a ‘state of overbought.’

United Capital Research analysts, in a recent note to investors, said “The weakening investors sentiment remains largely in line with our expectations as our technical charts continue to view the market as overbought.

“That said, we think investors will continue to maintain a cautious approach to investing in the absence of any major positive catalyst. As a result, we anticipate further bearish proceedings for the rest of the week.”

Lafarge Africa led losers with N2.25 or 10 percent decline while Guinness Nigeria Plc and Zenith Bank Plc followed with N1.75 or 9.83 percent and N1.45 or 6.18 percent decline, respectively.