Transactions Tumble Further

Despite the efforts of the management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to ensure that activities in the capital market improves after some months of continuous bearish run, transactions in the market have remained down.

The market capitalisation of all listed equities which opened the day at N11.416 trillion lost N297 billion to close at N11.1190 trillion. Similarly, the all-share index closed lower at 57,101.72 points compared to 58,625.66 points it opened with.

Market operators explained that investors are not eager to rush back into the market, saying that they are still watching developments in the market. They further explained that so many investors incurred losses in the past two months due to the suspension on financier account, popularly known as margin account, as their banks were calling on them to clear their accounts which warranted offloading their holdings within the period.

They opined however, that the market will soon bounce back. Further breakdown showed that 67 stocks lost weight compared to 62 the pervious day with Oando Plc leading the whole lot with N10.609 to close at N201.40. BCC followed with price loss of N2.47 to close at N46.93.

Flourmill, Ashakacem and Zenith Bank followed losing N2.36, N2.22 and N2.20 to close at N87.49, N42.37 and N42.30 respectively.

Conversely, 19 companies added weight led by Mobil oil which gained N9.37 to close at N196.87, followed by Guinness with appreciation of N1.80 toclose at N130.00. Eterna oil, Presco and Danflour followed adding N1.66, N1.39 and N1.36 to close at N34.92, N29.39 and N29.05 in that order.

As in the pervious day, insurance sub-sector led activity on the sectoral chart, accounting for 724.2 million shares worth N1.5 billion done in 3,357 deals, followed by the banking sub-sector with traded volume of 142.112 million shares valued at N3.2 billion exchanged in 6,865 deals. It would be recalled that the NSE had last week in a spirited effort to restore confidence in investors and arrest the persistence tumbling of stocks, called off the suspension on financier account, thereby giving stock brokers leave to continue to take loans from banks to trade on behalf of their clients.

Besides, it has also taken some definite steps to ensure that arbitrary sale of private placements by some unquoted companies is brought to a stop; a situation the regulatory authority attributed the free fall in the market to, but the situation is yet to be abated