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The Nigerian Stock Exchange has suspended trading in the shares of Unity Bank Plc and five other listed companies.
The Head, Listings Regulation, NSE, Godstime Iwenekhai, in a statement on Thursday, said the companies were suspended for failing to file their financial statements.
Iwenekhai, who announced the suspension, said it was in pursuant to Rule 3.1, Rules for the filing of accounts and treatment of default filing, Rulebook of the Exchange.
He said the rules provided that if an issuer failed to file the relevant accounts by the expiration of the cure period, the Exchange would send to the issuer a second filing deficiency notification within two business days after the end of the cure period.
He added that trading in the issuer’s securities would be suspended, after which the Securities and Exchange Commission and the market would be notified within 24 hours of the suspension.
The statement read in part, “Trading in the shares of the following companies via the facilities of the Exchange has been suspended effective today, November 1, 2018: Unity Bank Plc, Fortis Microfinance Bank Plc, Thomas Wyatt Nigeria Plc, Multi-Trex Integrated Foods Plc, Golden Guinea Breweries Plc and Deap Capital Management & Trust Plc.
“In accordance with the rules set forth above, the suspension of the above-listed companies will only be lifted upon the submission of the relevant accounts and provided the Exchange is satisfied that the accounts comply with all applicable rules of the Exchange.”
Meanwhile, the market capitalization of equities listed on the Exchange dropped by a further N168bn on the back of 24 losers led by Cadbury Nigeria Plc.
The market capitalization, which stood at N11.852tn on Wednesday, dropped to N11.684tn at the end of trading on the floor of the Exchange on Thursday, last week.
The All Share Index dropped by 1.4 per cent from 32,466.27 basis points on Wednesday to 32,006.65bps on Thursday, shedding 459.62 bps.
The year-to-date loss moderated to -16.3 per cent, while the volume and value of trade increased by 67.4 per cent and 29 per cent to close at 355.757 million units and N4.9bn, respectively.
Sector performance was bearish as all indices closed on a negative note.
The industrial index recorded the largest decline due to losses in Dangote Cement Plc, while the consumer goods and oil and gas indices followed, declining by 1.1 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively, on the back of losses in Nestlé Nigeria Plc, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Oando Plc and Eterna Plc.
The banking index dropped by 0.6 per cent, while the insurance index dropped by 0.1 per cent.
The top traded stocks by volume were First City Monument Bank Plc (168.727 million), Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (85.757 million) and Zenith Bank Plc (24.365 million), while the top traded stocks by value were GTB (N3.2bn), Zenith Bank (N562.8m) and FCMB (N261.2m).
The top five worst-performing stocks were Cadbury, CAP Plc, Eterna, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc and Africa Prudential Plc, whose share prices declined by 10 per cent, 9.97 per cent, 9.92 per cent, 9.82 per cent and 9.82 per cent, respectively.
The top five best-performing stocks were Japaul Oil & Maritime Services Plc, Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc, WAPIC Insurance Plc, Learn Africa Plc and Presco Plc, which saw their respective share prices increase by 10 per cent, 9.09 per cent, 7.50 per cent, 7.27 per cent and 6.49 per cent.
Analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited said, “Following three consecutive days of profit-taking, we anticipate a mild upturn in prices of bellwethers that have declined, thus driving a positive performance in today’s (Friday) session.”
