Continuous drop in oil prices is weakening trading at the equity market of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as sustained sell-offs prolonged the losing streak for eight consecutive days.
At the end of yesterday trading the NSE-ASI shed 2.14 per cent or 786.08 basis points to close lower at 35,958.38 points from the 36,744.46 achieved on Tuesday.
Similarly, market capitalisation went down by N260 billion to close at N11.910 trillion as against the N12.170 posted on Tuesday.
According to market analysts, this was as a result of declining oil prices. The oil price has a direct impact on the naira, so the slide is affecting interest in Nigerian stocks. They noted that the foreign investors were among the biggest sellers and if they continued to pull out, it would weigh down the exchange.
Nestle led on the losers’ chart with N49 to close at N931 per share. It was trailed by Seven Up with a loss of N14 to close at N14, while Wapco depreciated by N9.67 to close at N141. Nigerian Breweries chalked down by N4.94 to close at N151, while Total declined by N2.71 to close at N155 per share.
Conversely, Diamond Bank recorded the highest price gain of 20 kobo to close at N5.80 per share. Sterling Bank gained 11 kobo to close at N2.41, while Mansard Insurance was up by 10 kobo to close at N3.10 per share. May and Baker rose by 8 kobo to close at N1.72 per share, while Omoluwabi Savings appreciated by 2 kobo to close at 57 kobo.
The volume traded also decreased by 46.8 per cent as 400.2 million shares, valued at N4.02 billion in 4,374 deals were traded yesterday. Guaranty Trust Bank emerged the most traded equity with 46.1 million shares valued at N1.17 billion. FBN Holdings came second with 45.12 million shares worth N473.63 million, while FCMB accounted for 42.9 million shares valued N146.4 million.
Source : Leadership
