Chinwendu Obienyi
Following price losses in the shares of Nestle, Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) and FBN Holdings, transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), yesterday, returned to negative territory as the All-Share Index (ASI) dropped by 0.69 per cent to close at 32,473.82 points.
Investors had hoped for a positive outcome of last weekend’s presidential and National Assembly elections from the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC)’s announcement of results on Monday. Much to the dismay of traders, INEC shifted the proceedings and as a result, market capitalisation fell by N84 billion to settle at N12.109 trillion while Year-to-Date (YtD) gain slipped to 3.3 per cent.
Analysts at Afrinvest said, “based on market performance today, we advise cautious trading till the final results of the presidential elections are announced.”
At the sound of the closing gong, 21 stocks advanced while 20 others declined. Africa Prudential topped the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N4.84 per share. Oando Plc was next with a gain of 9.85 per cent to close at N7.25, AG Leventis increased by 9.65 per cent to close at 0.34 kobo, Cutix Plc garnered 9.63 per cent to close at N2.05 while Air Service grew by 9.30 per cent to close at N7.05.
On the flipside, NPF Microfinance Bank led the laggards with 9.70 per cent to close at N1.49 per share. Union Bank of Nigeria followed with a decline of 8.28 per cent to close at N6.65, Japaul Oil fell by 7.41 per cent to close at 0.25 kobo, Wema Bank depreciated by 6.59 per cent to close at 0.85 kobo while ABC Transport lost 5.26 per cent to close at 0.54 kobo.
Sunu Assurance was the toast of investors, trading about 50.80 million shares valued at N10.161 million. Access Bank sold 32.30 million shares worth N203.09 million while Diamond Bank transacted 28.60 million shares valued at N70.100 million. In 4,066 deals, investors exchanged 322.18 million units valued at N2.43 billion as compared with 219.80 million units and N5.54 billion exchanged inn 2,999 deals in the previous trading session.