More stocks depreciate as NSE investors lose N7bn

Chinwendu Obienyi
Coupled with the rising cases of the COVID-19,persistent foreign exchange (Forex) illiquidity as well as the slow recovery of the economy, the value of 17 stocks on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) depreciated at the close of transactions on Tuesday.
This was even as the market’s All Share Index (ASI) fell by 0.54 per cent while its capitalisation decreased by N7 billion to settle at 24,650.16 points and N12.858 trillion respectively.
Further analysis of the market’s performance showed that Total led 16 others on the losers’ chart with 9.95 per cent to close at N87.80 per share. Seplat was next with 9.82 per cent to close at N282, NPF Microfinance Bank dropped 7.75 per cent to close at N1.31, UACN lost 6.85 per cent to close at N6.80 while Julius Berger decreased by 6.25 per cent to close at N15.
Berger on the other hand, led 13 others on the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N6.05. Mutual Benefits followed with 10 per cent to close at 0.22 kobo, Unity Bank increased by 8.77 per cent to close at 0.62 kobo, Okomu Oil garnered 6.31 per cent to close at N74.95 while Oando Plc gained 5.58 per cent to close at N2.27.
Meanwhile, activity level on the domestic bourse waned as the volume and value of stocks traded declined by 11.5 and 17.1 per cent to 150.39 million units and N1.97 billion respectively, exchanged in 3,780 deals.
The top traded stocks by volume were Mutual Benefits (26.9 million units), FBN Holdings (17.0 million units) and Access Bank (11.2 million units) while MTNN (N939.5 million), GT Bank (N190.4 million) and WAPCO (N130.8 million) led by value.
Reacting, Afrinvest, in an emailed note sent to Daily Sun, said, “We believe the performance of the market this week would be majorly dictated by the trend in earnings releases”.