The local bourse suffered another day of dip as investors lost N112bn at the close of trading on Thursday.
Investors on Wednesday lost N27bn as trading activities slowed as the nation awaited the decision of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal. The PEPT affirmed the victory of President Bola Tinubu at the February polls.
On Thursday, the market reacted negatively as the amount of loss worsened to N112bn with the market capitalisation losing 0.29 per cent to close at N37.261tn. Similarly, the NGX All-Share Index lost 204.17 basis points to close at 68.082.11.
Although the volume of shares traded dropped to 378.089m, the value of the traded shares was higher at N8.38bn compared to the previous trading figure of N5.48bn. The shares were traded in 8,106 deals.
Market sentiments were negative as reflected in 30 losers and 25 winners.
On the losers table were Nestle which lost 1.39 per cent of its share value to close at N1.075, Zenith Bank lost 0.14 per cent to close at N36.95. NASCON’s shares dipped by 6.83 per cent to close trading at N56.60 per unit, Dangote Sugar lost 3.98 per cent to close at N64.
Both Dangote Sugar and NASCON Allied Industries are in the middle of a merger with Dangote Rice Limited. In its equity note on the merger, asset management firm, Meristem, projected that the price of shares of the proposed new entity will range between N60 and N70.
“Our thought is that the listing price would fall within the range of NGN60.00 to NGN70.00. Our thought is guided by the need to strike a balance between making the listing price of DANGFOODS (upon listing) attractive to new investors and providing adequate compensation for potential dilution faced by current DANGSUGAR’s shareholders,” the analysts said.
Meanwhile, leading the gainers’ table at the close of trading on Thursday was Betaglas whose shares appreciated by 9.97 per cent to close at N51.85, followed by Cadbury which gained 9.86 per cent to close at N15.60. Computer Warehouse Group’s stocks rose by 9.81 per cent to N5.26. Fast food company, Tantalizer’s shares gained 9.52 per cent to close at N0.46 and Guinea Insurance gained N9.09 per cent to close trading at N0.36.
Top traded stocks include Oando with 91,635,279 valued at N678m, Omatek had 29,972,966 million units of its shares worth N19m traded, over 23 million units of Dangote Sugar shares valued at N1.48bn were traded. Two banking stocks were also in the top five trades on Thursday. They were Fidelity Bank with 22,165,622 million of its shares worth over N193m exchanged and Accesscorp with over 20 million units of its shares exchanged. The Accesscorp shares were worth over N361m.
Madukwe B. Nwabuisi is an accomplished journalist renown for his fearless reporting style and extensive expertise in the field. He is an investigative journalist, who has established himself as a kamikaze reporter.
