Investors’ wealth depreciates further by N181 billion in bearish trading

 By Helen Oji
The reign of the bears continued unabated to the last trading day of the month of May, as most highly capitalised stocks depreciated in price market, causing market capitalization to plunge further by N181 billion.

Precisely, at the close of trading yesterday, the All- Share Index shed 501.87 absolute points or 1.30 per cent to close at 38,104.54 points its lowest in five months, resulting to a negative year-to-date performance of 0.36 per cent. Also, the market capitalisation declined by N181 billion to close at N13.803 trillion.
The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Nestle Nigeria, Okomu Oil, International Breweries, Forte Oil and Dangote Cement.
Analysts at APT Securities and Funds Limited said that “as negative sentiment foods the market, it pose a good buy on stocks that have shed weight most especially big capitalised stocks in Industrial Goods and Consumer Goods sector.”
Market breadth closed negative, with 21 gainers versus 26 losers. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) recorded the highest price gain of 10.12 per cent, to close at N26.65 per share. FCMB Groups followed with a gain of 8.10 per cent to close at N2.27, while FBN Holdings appreciated by 5.73 per cent to close at N10.15 per share.Unilever Nigeria rose by five per cent to close at N51.45, while Fidelity Bank gained 4.97 per cent to close at N1.90 per share.
On the other hand, International Breweries led the losers’ chart by 9.64 per cent, to close at N44.50 per share. Forte Oil shed 9.09 per cent to close at N37, while Okomu Oil depreciated by 5.88 per cent to close at N80 per share. Livestock declined by 4.94 per cent to close at 77 kobo and Caverton also shed 4.93 per cent to close at N2.12 per share.
The total volume traded appreciated by 376 per cent to 1.62 billion shares, worth N71.2 billion, and traded in 5,166 deals. Transactions in the shares of Stanbic IBTC Holdings topped the activity chart with 1.15 billion shares valued at N61.64 billion, accounted for 89 per cent of the total market value traded following news on a share acquisition by its parent company, Stanbic Africa Holdings, which would increase its shareholding in the Nigerian bank to 64.4 per cent.Zenith Bank followed with 127.19 million shares worth N3.26 billion, while Guaranty Trust Bank traded 74 million shares valued at N3.01 billion.
UBA traded 65.56 million shares valued at N700.76 million, while Sterling Bank transacted 29.8 million shares worth N36.33 million.