Chinwendu Obienyi
Proceedings on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) resumed the second week of October on a negative footing as the Oil&Gas index declined by 4.2 per cent owing to price depreciation in the shares of Seplat and Oando.
Investors’ sentiment remained weak with the All Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation decreasing by 0.45 per cent and N59 billion to settle at N13.078 trillion at the close of trading on Monday.
Accordingly, Year-to-Date (YtD) loss worsened to -14.5 per cent. However, activity level rose as volume and value traded advanced by 9.2 and 45.6 per cent to 151.71 million units and N1.50 billion respectively, in 2,854 deals.
Reacting to the development, traders say the absence of a positive catalyst in the Nigerian economy is the causative factor behind the weak sentiment of both foreign and domestic investors while adding that their focus is more on fixed income instruments rather than equities.
Market breadth however was positive as 17 stocks appreciated in value while 16 others depreciated. Courtville was top on the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at 0.22 kobo per share, Africa Prudential was next with 9.94 per cent to close at N3.87, ABC Transport gained 8.82 per cent to close at 0.37 kobo, Wema Bank increased by 8.62 per cent to close at 0.63 kobo while UACN garnered 8.40 per cent to close at N7.10.
On the flipside, Cornerstone dropped 10 per cent to close at 0.36 kobo per share to top the losers’ chart. Seplat was next, losing about 6.85 per cent to close at N517, Cadbury fell by 5.74 per cent to close at N9.85, Caverton declined by 5.38 per cent to close at N2.46 while Oando lost 2.78 per cent to close at N3.60.
FCMB shares moved the activity chart with the sale of 55.67 million shares valued at N89.06 million. Transcorp traded 17.15 million shares worth N17.20 million while FBN Holdings sold 14.39 million shares worth N76.23 million.