The Nigerian equities market maintained its negative trend as the market depreciated for the third consecutive day this week. The market has shed N338 billion in capitalisation this week.
Having resumed for the week with a decline, the bears have continued to consolidate their hold recording a decline of 0.34 per cent earlier this week. However, the market booked a higher decline with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index(ASI) declining by 2.2 per cent to close at 32,203.62 while market capitalisation shed N241 billion to close at N10.632 trillion. Thus, market has thus dipped by N338 billion, bringing the year-to-date decline in ASI to 22.08 per cent.
The heavy decline in ASI resulted from the losses recorded by highly capitalised stocks that were among the 34 price losers for the day. Stocks such as Dangote Cement Plc, Nigeria Breweries Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, which are the leaders on the Nigerian bourse in terms of capitalisation, were among the price losers.
But, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc led the losers’ chart with 6.2 per cent decline, trailed by Nigerian Breweries Plc, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc and Guinness Nigeria Plc with five per cent apiece to close at N161.31, N341.92 and N135.85 respectively.
Investors in Seplat have been counting their losses in the first and only oil exploration and production firm listed on the NSE due to waning confidence. The stock, which got listed at N576 per share in April, rose to a peak of N720.56 in July.
However, a consistent decline in the value of the stock saw it close at N341.92 per cent yesterday. This indicates a capital loss of 41 per cent compared with its listing price of N576.
Market analysts had attributed the bearish trend to decline in crude oil prices and poor nine months performance of Seplat. The company recorded 48 per cent decline in profit after tax(PAT) for the nine months ended September 30, 2014, from N99.9 billion in 2013 to N92 billion.
