Finally, the benchmark All-Share index of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) slipped into negative territories year-to-date (YTD) on Thursday after suffering yet another setback on the back of declining money flow as investors exit the market in a frenzy to preserve their funds.
On Thursday, May 31, 2018, the NSEASI fell for the 10th consecutive trading session, losing another 1.30% to close at 38,104.54 basis points, which pushed Year-to-Date return into negative at -0.36%.
Also, transaction volume for the day surged to 1.62bn units valued at N71.2bn, following the off-market trade wherein 1.14bn units of Stanbic IBTC Holdings were crossed at N53.75 each in eight deals to Stanbic Africa Holdings Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Bank Group Limited) and parent company of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc (READ MORE).
Month-to-date, the index took its worse bashing in a very long time, shedding all of 7.67% as small, medium and big cap stocks suffered severe losses.
The decliners for the month was led by Nestle Nigeria, the bourse’s most priced stock which dropped all of N126.50 from the N1.599 ; per share it closed in April; followed by Nigerian Breweries, the NSE’s biggest company by market capitalization after Dangote Cement. NB suffered a N22.00 haircut; ahead of the N10.30 loss by 11 Plc (Double One); just as subsector peers like Total Nigeria, N10.20; and Forte Oil, N8.20. International Breweries got punished for a less-than-expected full-year scorecard, closing N7.20 down; pharmaceutical giant- Glaxo Smithkline Consumer was also on the firing line for the month, perhaps as investors reacted to the sale of its product line. It lost N4.80; Guaranty Trust Bank, the NSE’s biggest bank by capitalization, lost N4.50 each; Dangote Flour shed N4.05 (or 30.45%) to profit taking; Unilever was down N3.45 per share. Stanbic IBTC Holdings dropped N3.40 each, same as Flour Mills; just as Dangote Sugar Refinery closed the month N3.05 lower; Guinness Nigeria, N3.00; UACN, N2.50; Oando, N2.50; Chemical and Allied Products, N1.95; Cadbury Nigeria, N1.30; and NASCON Allied Industries, N1.25 each.
In percentage terms however, Japaul Oil suffered the biggest decline for the month after its faux pas from the much-celebrated plan by U.S investment firm- Milost to invest what was considered much more capital than was value of the company and others like Unity Bank and Aso Savings and Loans, among others that resulted in a backlash.
Japaul lost 56.25% of its opening price to close at 21 kobo; followed by Diamond Bank’s 34.26%, after reporting a huge N12.89bn net loss for the year ended December 31, 2017.(READ MORE). Equity Assurance shed 31.03%; Transnational Corporation of Nigeria shed 25.08% to queue behind Dangote Flour; just as Fidelity Bank lost 25.49%, to fall behind Oando’s 25.60%. Niger Insurance closed 20% down; just like GSK; AIICO Insurance was down 19.44%; Sterling Bank, 19.25%; FBN Holdings, 18.80%; among others.
Besides these, the sectorial indicators presented a scoreboard of where the loss was most intense for the month, with NSE Consumer Goods shedding 10.23% of its weight; followed by the Pension index, which closed 9.8% south; just as the mainboard fell 9.78% down; ahead of the 8.77% by the banking index. The NSE30 blue-chip index lost 8.7%; the Lotus Islamic index was not spared as it shed 6.03%; the Premium board index fell 5.04% down; oil and gas, 4.88%; Insurance was down 2.58%; while the ASeM closed 0.93% lower for the month.
Another sign of the severity of the hemorrhage suffered during the month was visible in the fact that only 20 stocks ended the month of May in green, led by Mutual Benefit Assurance, which gained 54.17%; followed by Ikeja Hotels’ 41.01%, still basking in the euphoria of the recently lifting of the full suspension placed on its shares by the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and NSE and was lifted penultimate Monday. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria chalked 30.32%; MRS Oil, 20.81%; Law Union & Rock Insurance, 20.51%; Sovereign Insurance, 18.18%; while Fidson Healthcare notched 14.29%. VeritasKapital gained 10.34%; Beta Glass, 10.22%; Redstar Express, 9.09%; and NPF Microfinance Bank, 8.43%; among others.