By Olaleke ASHAFA
The persistent downward trend on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continued on Wednesday with Dangote Cement leading the losers’ table.
The stock lost N3 to close at N190 per share, while Nigeria Breweries trailed with a loss of 40k to close at N79, while Zenith Bank was down by 35k to close at N23.25 per share.
Oando dropped by 30k to close at N4.65, while FBN Holdings shed 25k to close at N7.10 per share.
Consequently, the market capitalisation dipped further by N55 billion or 0.48 per cent to close at N11.325 trillion compared to N11.380 trillion on Tuesday.
Also, the All-Share Index which opened at 31,173.71 lost 150.24 points or 0.48 per cent to close at 31,023.47.
Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd., said that the continued selloffs had depressed the market further.
Omordion attributed the persistent lull to investors’ apathy due to the persisting unclear direction of the Federal Government’s economic policies and implementation style of the budget since 2015.
He said that economic activities that drive growth had continued to drag, often taking two steps forward and five backwards.
“The huge budgets and the much celebrated improvement in capital budgeting to drive developmental projects have not reflected in the economy in anyway despite the high debt profile resulting from borrowing to finance the budget.
“As Nigeria goes into another election season, which has so far plagued the market, owing to the perceived uncertainties, analysts are on the lookout for a 10-year economic development blueprint with delivery time and process that will give Nigerians hope.
“This should not be time for mere sloganeering by politicians in the name of party manifestoes that empowers few individuals, family members, friends and business partners,’’ Omordion said.
On the other hand, Stanbic IBTC Group led the gainers’ table, growing by N1.05 to close at N50 per share.
PZ Cussons followed with a gain of 85k to close at N11.40, while
Guaranty Trust Bank gained 60k to close at N35.60 per share.
Flour Mills improved by 50k to close at N20, while Lafarge Africa increased by 35k to close at N13.35 per share.
Access Bank was the most active stock, exchanging 54.17 million shares worth N385.41 million.
FCMB Group followed with an account of 31.52 million shares valued at N45.71 million, while Diamond Bank traded 16.66 million shares worth N12.66 million.
United Bank for Africa sold 11.52 million shares worth N85.19 million, while Regency Insurance traded 11.09 million shares valued at N2.22 million.
In all, investors exchanged 220.47 million shares worth N2.73 billion achieved in 3,252 deals, an increase of 20.94 per cent.
This was in contrast with 182.23 million shares valued at N2.75 billion traded in 3,121 deals on Tuesday.
