Stock Market Dips by N34bn
By Uche Obike and Tunyosola Ayansiji
The bearish transactions pervading the equity market continued to bring down key market indices. The market capitalisation at the weekend went down by N34 billion or 1.8 per cent, from N1.920 trillion to N1.886 trillion, while the all-share index dropped by 1.8 per cent from 27,071.88 to 26,593.40, after the five day of sluggish tradings.
The stock market report of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for the week ended Friday, August 13, 2004, revealed that 33 stocks appreciated in price during the week, compared with the 36 recorded in the preceding week.
The report further showed that 7Up Bottling Company Plc led the week's gainers' chart with a gain of N1.29 to close at N29.54 per share, while PZ Industries Plc followed with NI.11 to close at N15.32 per share. Other price gainers in the top 10 category included Presco Plc (N0.83), Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc (N0.82), Okomu Oil Palm Plc (N0.79), WAPIC Insurance Plc (N0.71)
CFAO Nigeria Plc (N0.41), Nigerian-German Chemicals Plc (N0.40), UTC Nigeria Plc (N0.34) and CAP Plc (N0.30).
However, 53 stocks recorded price decline higher than the 50 that went down during the preceding week. Northern Nigeria Flour Mills Plc led on the week's price losers' chart, dropping by N8.42 to close at N20.08 per share. Total Nigeria Plc followed on the price losers' chart with a loss of N8.20 to close at N193.00 per share. Other price losers in the top 10 category included Conoil Plc (N4.05), Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc (N4.00), Guinness Nigeria Plc (N3.00), Cadbury Nigeria Plc (N2.98), Nigerian Breweries Plc (N2.49), Union Dicon Salt Plc (Nl.52), Union Bank of Nigeria Plc (Nl.33) and First Bank of Nigeria Plc (Nl.30).
The market report further revealed that two equity prices were adjusted for dividend and/or bonus, while Nigeria Flour Mills Plc was adjusted for a dividend of N0.30 per share and bonus of I for 3. Access Bank of Nigeria Plc was also adjusted for a dividend of N0.10 per share and bonus of I for 3 as declared by their directors.
A total of one billion shares were added to the shares outstanding in the name of Access Bank of Nigeria Plc following the bonus issue of I for 3 declared for the shareholders. Also, a total of 37.125 million shares were added to the shares outstanding in the name of Northern Nigeria Flour Mills Plc following the bonus issue of 1 for 3 as recommended by the directors.
Meanwhile, the stock market recorded a turnover of 303.4 million ordinary shares worth N5.15 billion made in 18,349 deals during the week under review, in contrast to a total of 314.5 million ordinary shares valued at N6.35 billion exchanged the previous week in 22,314 deals
As usual, there were no transactions in the Federal Government Development Stocks Sector and the Industrial Loans/Preference Stocks Sector.
The banking subsector was the most active during the week as measured by turnover with 210.3 million ordinary shares worth N3.22 billion exchanged in 8,510 deals. The volume of traded shares in the banking subsector was driven in part by activity in the shares of Union Bank Nigeria Plc and Standard Trust Bank Plc.
Trading on the shares of the two banks accounted for 77.6 million ordinary shares, representing 36.9 per cent of the subsector's turnover. As in the preceding week, the insurance subsector followed on the week's activity chart with a turnover of 22.3 million ordinary shares valued at N60.2 million in 305 deals.
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