Nigerian Stocks Fall by N391 Billion After Dangote Cement Sell-Off

Nigerian stocks went down by 1.77 percent (or N391.3 billion) on Thursday, as a negative investor sentiment cleared out all the gains brought in at the last trading session, setting up the market for a negative return this week.

Dangote Cement, which is the country’s biggest company in terms of market value, let go of about 10 percent (the highest daily downward movement allowed by the exchange) as huge amounts of the firm’s shares were put up for sale. Pressure on NGX Group and Unity Bank to sell also fueled the loss.

NEM Insurance announced a plan to reconstruct shares, which will see every two of the underwriter’s shares turned into one, in a bid to cut its outstanding shares into half. The company said this has gotten the approval of its shareholders.

Analysts at Lagos-based investment bank, United Capital said in a note that while there is belief that room exists for a short-term rebound in future trading sessions, it still maintains a month-long bullish perspective on the equities market as sell pressures come back later in the month.

The all-share index went down by 749.94 basis points to sit at 41,685.22. In a similar vein, market capitalization went down to N21.76 trillion. Year to date, the index has gone up by 3.51 percent.

In the gaining chart, SAHCO came top as it traded an increase of 9.66 percent to close at N4.88. Oando also came in the top five, as it gained 8.33 percent to close at N4.93. WAPIC went up by 8.51 percent to close at N0.51. Mutual Benefits also saw a jump, moving up 8.33 percent to close at N0.26. Consolidated Hallmark then closed out the top five, rising 8.16 percent and closing at N0.53.

On the opposite side, Dangote Cement led all the losers as it fell by 10 percent to close at N252. UACN also went down by 10 percent to close its trade at N9, as Neimeth lost 6.86 percent as it closed at N1.63. May & Baker saw a 6.46 percent loss, closing at N4.20 and Pharma Deko completed the worst losers, as it went down 5.21 percent to close at N2.