Investors lose N302bn as RT Briscoe, MTN, 17 others dip
‘Femi Asu
Investors in the nation’s stock market lost N320bn in value on Monday as 17 firms recorded price depreciation on the back of sell-off in some large-cap stocks that rallied last week.
RT Briscoe Plc emerged the biggest loser at the end of trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Monday, followed by MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, which suffered its second share price drop since it got listed on the NSE.
The NSE All Share Index shed 2.22 per cent to close at 30,194.71 basis points, while the market capitalisation dipped byN302.41bn to N13.30tn.
RT Briscoe fell by 9.38 per cent to N0.29 per share, while MTN Nigeria lost 7.14 per cent to close at N130 per share.
Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc dropped by 4.76 per cent to N0.20 per share; Courteville Business Solutions Plc depreciated by 4.55 per cent to N0.21 per share, and Jaiz Bank Plc declined by 4.08 per cent to close at N0.47 per share.
Other losers included Dangote Cement Plc, May & Baker Nigeria Plc, LASACO Assurance Plc, Africa Prudential Plc, Oando Plc,UAC of Nigeria Plc, AIICO Insurance Plc, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, and Forte Oil.
Fourteen stocks gained at the end of trading on Monday, with Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc leading the pack as it rose by 9.80 per cent to close at N0.56 per share.
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Unity Bank Plc, Morison Industries Plc and Unilever Nigeria Plc appreciated by 9.45 per cent, 9.23 per cent, 9.09 per cent and 8.71 per cent to N11, N0.71, N0.60 and N33.70 per share respectively.
Analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited said, “In line with our expectation, the local bourse opened the week on a negative note as investors booked profit in bellwether stocks – MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement and Union Bank of Nigeria.”
They noted that activity level weakened as volume and value traded shed 50.6 per cent and 74.0 per cent to 145.2 million units and N1.7bn respectively.
The top traded stocks by volume were Fidelity Bank Plc (28.3 million units), Access Bank Plc (20.3 million units) and United Bank for Africa Plc (20.1 million units) while MTN Nigeria (N948.2m),Zenith Bank Plc (N168.3m) and Access Bank (N117.4m) led the top traded stocks by value.
The analysts said, “Across sectors, performance was mixed as three of six indices under our coverage closed southwards. The Afrinvest ICT index – a market-cap-weighted index of seven listed ICT securities – led laggards, down 7.1 per cent on the back of a loss in MTN Nigeria.
“The industrial goods index depreciated by 2.1 per cent primarily on the back of profit-taking in Dangote Cement. Similarly, sell pressures in Oando and Forte Oil dragged the oil and gas index 0.4 per cent lower.”
On the flip side, the banking index led gainers, up one per cent while the consumer goods and insurance indices rose by 70bps and 4bps respectively.
“Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth (advance/decline), weakened to 0.7x from 1.2x. We expect the negative performance to persist in the absence of any major catalyst,” the analysts added.