Gains recorded by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index in the last days of July were not enough to ensure it closed positive for the month, after many heavy weight stocks including Lafarge Africa, Forte Oil, Nigerian Breweries, Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank suffered huge price cuts.
The benchmark NSEASI which opened the month at 38278.55 basis points, closed 3.29% lower at 37017.78bps; just as all sectoral indices closed the month in red, led by the alternative market index, which lost 14.71%; ahead of the 11.36% by Industrial Goods. The NSE Pension index shed 6.77%; Consumer Goods, 5.08%; Mainboard, 4.51; NSE30, 4.25%; NSE Banking, 3.78%; NSE50, 3.70%; and NSELotus, 3.34%. The oil and gas index followed with 1.90% decline; just as the insurance index slipped 1.83% lower among other.
The losses were despite the month being the peak of the half-year earnings season the benchmark indices, just as the seemingly weak gain by the NSE biggest stock by market capitalization- Dangote Cement Plc, was insufficient to change the narrative. The loss was also despite the superb price appreciations by Cement Company of Northern Nigeria and electrical cable maker- Cutix, among others, among others.
In absolute term, petroleum products marketer- Total Nigeria suffered N27, or 12.86% loss; followed by oil palm estate manager- Okomu, which shed N17.30 or 18.8%; followed by rival- Presco, which shed N15.45 per share or 20.6% of its opening price for the month of July.
According to data from the NSE, cement making giant- Lafarge Africa lost N13.45, or 32.84%, after posting a less than impressive half year result; glass making and packaging giant- Beta Glass, which lost N9.35 or 10.83%; Nigerian Breweries followed with N9.20, or 8.06%; Forte Oil, N7.80; MRS Oil, N5.70; PZ Cussons, N5.60; International Breweries, N5.35; Flour Mills, N3.30; 11 Plc, N3.00; NASCON Allied Industries, N2.70; Julius Berger, N2.30; Stanbic IBTC, N2.25; Dangote Sugar Refinery, N2.10; Glaxo Smithkline Consumer, N2.00, just like Zenith Bank; and Guinness Nigeria, N1.75. Others were Dangote Flour Mills, N1.20 per share, among others.
In absolute terms also, the month’s biggest price jump was recorded in Seplat Petroleum Development Company, whose share price garnered all of N54, representing 8.31% of its opening figure; followed by Nestle Nigeria, which remains the highest priced stock on the exchange. The N25.00 gain for the month was a mere 1.59% gain; followed by CCNN’s N7.00, or 29.17%; Cutix, N1.38, or 46%; Northern Nigeria Flour Mills, 65 kobo; Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, 55 kobo; C&I Leasing, 37 kobo, or 17.87%; and Vitafoam, 36 kobo, among others.