Unity Bank, Wapic, Unic top losers, stocks shed N236bn

Stanley Opara

The Nigerian equities market declined by N236bn on Wednesday after 23 stocks closed in red, with Unity Bank Plc, Wapic Insurance Plc and Unic Diversified Holdings Plc emerging as the worst stocks.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange equities capitalisation dropped to N15.431tn from N15.667tn as 270.332 million stocks valued at N5.18bn exchanged hands in 4,799 deals.

  Thus, the NSE All-Share Index fell by 1.5 per cent to settle at 42,952.70 from 43,609.77 basis points while year-to-date return moderated to 12.3 per cent.

Some analysts said the day’s bearish performance was due to sell-offs in high capitalised stocks like Dangote Cement Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, which slumped respectively by 3.6 per cent, 3.4 per cent and 1.9 per cent.

 Consequently, activity level weakened as volume and value traded fell by 39.3 per cent and 13.1 per cent to 270.332 million units and N5.18bn, respectively. The top trades by volume were Zenith Bank Plc (64.6 million), Japaul Oil & Maritime Services Plc (17.5 million) and Sterling Bank Plc (16.9 million) while the top traded stocks by value were Zenith Bank (N2bn), Dangote Cement (N889.8m) and International Breweries Plc (N375.9m).

Performance across sectors was largely negative as all indices plummeted save for the insurance index which advanced by 0.4 per cent following price appreciation in Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc, NEM Insurance Nigeria Plc and Linkage Assurance Plc, which appreciated respectively by 6.1 per cent, five per cent and 3.5 per cent.

 However, the industrial goods index led laggards, falling by 1.8 per cent on the back of losses recorded in Dangote Cement and Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc.

 Also, the banking index shed 0.9 per cent as profit-taking in Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Access Bank Plc weighed negatively on performance. The consumer goods index declined by 0.7 per cent, following sell pressure in Nigerian Breweries and Nestle Nigeria Plc while losses in Total Nigeria Plc dragged the oil/gas index down by 0.5 per cent.

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