Bear Sentiment Holds Market to Ransom as Index Slides to New Low of 3.6%

The bear sentiment retained dominance on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, on Wednesday, January 11 following investors panic sell off.

The All Share Index (ASI)-the benchmark index slid to a new low at 25,103.05 points as against its opening index of 26,034.93 points, representing a drop of 3.6 per cent.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities on the NSE slipped from N8.954 trillion to close at N8.633 trillion, indicating a loss of N321 billion.

Nestle Nigeria, Nigeria’s highest-priced stock, led the losers with a loss of N41 to close at N779. Dangote Cement followed with a loss of N7.65 to close at N145.45. Seven-Up Bottling Company dropped by N7 to close at N175. Nigerian Breweries declined by N4.84 to close at N97.18. Lafarge Africa lost N3.55 to close at N91.31 while Okomu Oil Palm dropped by N3.51 to close at N32.64 per share.

Total turnover stood at 369.23 million shares worth N1.69 billion in 2,893 deals. Diamond Bank was the most active stock with a turnover of 88.68 million shares worth N177.37 million in 32 deals. Unity Kapital Assurance followed with a turnover of 70 million shares valued at N35 million in a deal while Zenith Bank placed third on the activities chart with a turnover of 51.44 million shares worth N564.66 million in 536 deals.

The three contrarian advancers yesterday were Ashaka Cement, which rose by N2.26 to close at N26.50; Custodian and Allied, which added 14 kobo to close at N4.20 and NEM Insurance, which inched up by two kobo to close at 67 kobo per share.