Nigerian stocks fall first time in 32 days as investors take profit

Nigerian stocks fell for the first time in 32 days on Tuesday as the main equity index contracted marginally by 0.2 per cent, ending the bourse longest gaining streak so far this year.

Until Tuesday, the bourse had been on a rally since April 32, buoyed by an unusually strong investors’ sentiment, and has now returned 21.3 per cent since the beginning of the year.

Profit-taking in blue-chip companies like MTN Nigeria and Nigerian Breweries set the descent in motion, with transaction volume shrinking by as much as 28 per cent.

“We expect to see some profit-taking in the coming week, emphasising high-yield positions,” investment bank and brokerage firm United Capital said in its outlook note for this week, seen by PREMIUM TIMES.

Also helping gains at individual stock level were palm fruit processors Presco and Okomu Oil.

The bourse posted a positive breadth as 24 gainers emerged against 20 laggards.

“We expect the positive performance to be sustained by bargain hunting and increased positioning ahead of the Q3 earnings season,” analysts at broker United Capital said of trading for the rest of the week in a note seen by PREMIUM TIMES.

The all-share index eased 97.1 basis points to 51,805.4, while market capitalisation dropped to N27.9 trillion.

TOP FIVE GAINERS

May & Baker led advancers, appreciating by 10 per cent to N4.84. Okomu Oil climbed up by 10 per cent to N187. Multiverse added up 10 per cent to end trade at N0.22. Unilever advanced by 10 per cent to N15.40. Champion Breweries rose to N4.03, notching up 9.81 per cent.

TOP FIVE LOSERS

NAHCO topped the losers’ chart, declining by 7.22 per cent to close at N6.30. Mutual Benefits went down by 3.85 per cent to end trade at N0.25. Wema fell to N3.61, losing 3.73 per cent. MTNN slumped to N240, recording 3.61 per cent slip. Regal Insurance closed at N0.29, going down by 3.33 per cent.

TOP FIVE TRADES

In all, 331.5 million shares valued at N5 billion were traded in 6,689 deals.

GTCO was the most active stock, with 52 million of its shares worth N1.2 billion traded in 388 deals. Transcorp saw 41.3 million units of its shares priced at N49.6 million exchanged hands in 178 transactions. FBN Holdings traded 14.1 million shares valued at N171.3 million in 181 deals. Oando traded 13.6 million shares estimated at N80.9 million in 196 transactions. Regal Insurance transacted 12.8 million shares valued at N3.3 million in 28 deals.