Tier-1 banks’ shares decline as NSE Index drops 0.39%

Chinwendu Obienyi

Nigeria’s equities market resumed Monday on a negative note as Tier-1 banks – inclding GT Bank, Zenith Bank recorded declines, resulting to a loss of 0.39 per cent in the market’s All Share Index (ASI).

Analysts who spoke to Daily Sun at the weekend had predicted the market might record losses this week while calling on investors to trade cautiously.

But true to their warning investors lost N49 billion to close at N12.482 trillion from N12.531 trillion recorded on Friday while year-to-date (YTD) loss worsened to -10.8 per cent.

Furthermore, activity level on the bourse saw the volume and value of stocks traded declining by 1.8 and 19.1 per cent  to 204.27 million units and N1.77 billion respectively, exchanged in 4,460 deals.

The most active stocks by volume were FBN Holdings (44.1 million units), GT Bank (27.7 million units) and Regal Insurance (20.7 million units) while GT Bank (N585.0 billion), FBN Holdings (N207.6 billion) and Zenith Bank (N185.3 billion) led the value chart.

This was as nvestors’ appetite for stocks remained positive with 14 stocks appreciating while 12 others depreciated. Unilever topped the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N11.55 per share, MCNICHOLS followed with 9.52 per cent to close at 0.46 kobo, Jaiz Bank increased by 9.09 per cent to close at 0.60 kobo, Eterna oil gained 7.87 per cent to close at N2.33 while Cileasing garnered 6.67 per cent to close at N4.80.

On the flipside, CAP topped the losers’ chart with 9.83 per cent to close at N20.65 per share. Wapic was next with 9.09 per cent to close at 0.30 kobo, UAC-Prop lost 8.70 per cent to close at 0.84 kobo, Union Bank of Nigeria dropped 8.57 per cent to close at N6.40 while Honeywell Flour decreased by 8.41 per cent to close at 0.98 kobo.