Stocks on Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) extended their losing streak on Thursday following mixed second quarter earnings of companies and anxiety over 2019 general elections.
The NSE All-Share Index shed 67.16 points or 0.19 per cent to stand at 36,232.66 from the 36,299.82 posted on Wednesday.
Index has fallen by 5.26 per cent year to date so far this year after appreciating by 42 per cent in 2017.
Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd., in Lagos, attributed the persistent decline to political risk ahead of election and mixed sector quarter earnings announced by some companies.
Omordion said that second-quarter earnings had been mixed with most commercial banks posting decline in loans growth, while several consumer goods companies recorded lower profits.
Also, the market capitalisation, which opened at ₦13.249 trillion, shed ₦21 billion to close at ₦13.228 trillion.
An analysis of the price movement chart on Thursday showed that 22 stocks posted loses against 12 gainers.
Top on the price laggards’ table was Mobil Oil which lost ₦10 to close at ₦170 per share.
FBN Holdings trailed with a loss of 45k to close at ₦9.50, while Vitafoam was down by 36k to close at ₦3.24 per share.
PZ industries depreciated by 20k to close at ₦14.05, while Zenith International Bank lost 15k to close at ₦23.60 per share.
On the other hand, International Breweries led the price gainers’ table, gaining 50k to close at N31 per share.
Sterling Bank followed with a gain of 13k to close at ₦1.49, while Ecobank Transnational gained 10k to close at ₦22.15 per share.
Eterna Oil also appreciated by 10k to close at ₦6.10, while Stanbic IBTC grew by 10k to close at ₦50 per share.
UBA was the most at active stock in volume terms, trading 27.22 million shares worth ₦260.24 million.
Law Union and Rock Insurance followed with 25 million shares valued at ₦22.50 million, while Zenith International Bank traded 19.92 million shares worth ₦71.39 million.
Courteville traded 19.69 million shares worth ₦4.13 million, while Regency Insurance sold 13.13 million shares valued at ₦3.05 million.
In all, a total of 188.26 million shares valued at ₦1.29 billion were transacted by investors in 2,795 deals.
This is in contrast to the 114.04 million shares worth ₦730.08 million traded in 2,610 deals on Wednesday.