Investors Lose N340bn in As Airtel Shares Decline

Trading at the Nigerian Exchange opened the week bearish with the market capitalization losing a whopping N340 billion in one day.

On resumption from Monday's holiday, the market capitalization, which opened at N20.409 trillion, dipped by N340 billion to close at N20.069 trillion.

Also, the All-Share Index shed 648.99 points or 1.66 percent to close at 38,507.29 from 39,156.28 achieved on Friday.

Accordingly, month-to-date gain moderated to 0.2 percent, while year-to-date loss increased to 4.4 percent.

The market loss was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalized stocks, including Airtel Africa, Okomu Oil Palm, Presco, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, and Guaranty Trust Bank.

The profit-taking, which started on Friday, seems to be taking a heavy toll on the markets and might continue for the rest of the week. 

The market sentiment closed negative with 26 laggards against 19 gainers.

Airtel Africa led the losers’ chart in percentage terms, dropping by 10 percent to close at N753.30 per share.

Okomu Oil Palm followed with 9.44 percent to close at N105.50, while Cornerstone Insurance shed 9.09 percent to close at 50kobo per share.

Learn Africa dropped eight percent to close at 92kobo, while Livestock Feeds shed 4.74 percent to close at N1.81 per share.

On the other hand, CWG dominated the gainers’ chart in percentage terms with 9.73 percent to close at N1.24 per share.

Berger Paints followed with 6.72 percent to close at N7.15, while Red Star Express increased by 4.19 percent to close at N3.23 per share.

NEM Insurance rose by 3.89 percent to close at N1.87, while Wapic Insurance gained 3.64 percent to close at 57kobo per share.

Meanwhile, the total volume of shares transacted rose by 2.9 percent with an exchange of 297.35 million shares valued at N3.65 billion exchanged in 4,402 deals.

This was in contrast with a turnover of 289.08 million shares worth N3.55 billion exchanged in 3,719 on Friday.

Transactions in the shares of Access Bank topped the activity chart with 43.14 million shares valued at N359.54 million.

Sterling Bank followed with 33.21 million shares worth N52.13 million, while Zenith Bank traded 25.90 million shares valued at N602.18 million.

UACN traded 22.93 million shares valued at N216.79 million, while Union Homes Real Estate Investment Trust transacted 19.01 million shares worth N695.88 million.