The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) opened on a downward trend with the market capitalisation dropping by N60 billion amidst losses by Lafarge Africa and Nigerian Breweries. Reports revealed that the market capitalisation which opened at N12.593 trillion shed N60 billion or 0.48 per cent to close at N12.533 trillion.
Also, the All-Share Index lost 174.58 points or 0.48 per cent to close at 36,412.73 compared with 36,587.31 achieved on Friday. A breakdown of the price movement table indicated that Lafarge Africa topped the losers’ chart with a loss of N5.46 to close at N50.54 per share.
Market watchers attributed the loss to investors’ reaction to the company’s nine months result which was below market expectations. Nigerian Breweries trailed with a loss of N3.01 to close at N157 and Presco shed N3 to close at N65 per share. Zenith International Bank was down by 89k to close at N25.10 and Guinness depreciated by 65k to close at N100.35 per share.
On the other hand, International Breweries led the gainers’ table, gaining N5.22 to close at N56.23 per share. Flour Mills Nigeria followed with a gain of 80k to close at N30 and UACN added 78k to close at N16.89 per share. Access Bank advanced by 30k to close at N9.80, while Red Star appreciated by 23k to close at N4.98 per share.
However, the volume of shares traded rose by 137.95 per cent with an exchange of 253.54 million shares worth N2.69 billion traded in 3,609 deals. This was in contrast with turnover of 106.55 million shares valued at N1.88 billion exchanged in 3,193 deals on Friday. Access Bank was the toast of investors during the day, exchanging 68.74 million shares worth N653.54 million.
FBN Holdings followed with an account of 27.27 million shares valued at N163.59 million, while Transcorp traded 26.06 million shares worth N37.77 million. Fidelity Bank traded 24.03 million shares worth N35.75 million and Zenith Bank sold 13.69 million shares valued at N340.71 million.
