Trading for the first four months on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) ended on Thursday, with the benchmark All-Share index losing 14.24% Year-To-Date (YTD) after the 30 most capitalized stocks represented in the NSE-30 index lost 16.19% within the period under review.
The consumer goods index was the biggest decliner in the four-period, shedding 37.40%; just as the NSE-50 lost 24.34%; the Oil and gas index closed 20.34%; the Mainboard followed with 19.81%; NSE Pension, 16.58%; among others.
Unilever Nigeria suffered the biggest share price decline for the period, shedding 52.27%; followed by brewery giants- Nigerian Breweries, whose shareholders lost 49.15% of the value of their investments; International Breweries’ share price slipped 47.37% lower; ahead of rival Guinness Nigeria, which dropped by 38.77%; even as Law Union & Rock Insurance saw 100% growth in its share price within the period.
Oil stock, Eterna closed 40% south; Oando lost 37.84%; Nestle Nigeria shed the most weight in real terms, as its share price fell by 37.4%; Ardova, 36.17%; Sterling Bank, 35.68%; Access Bank, 34%; and Transnational Corporation of Nigeria, 33.33%. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated lost 31.54%; Unity Bank, 31.25%; Stanbic IBTC Holdings, 30.49%; Chams, 30.30%; Guaranty Trust Bank, 29.29%; Cadbury Nigeria, 28.91%; PZ Cussons, N25.66%; FBN Holdings, 25.2%; Seplat Petroleum Development Company, 24.84%; WAPIC Insurance, 23.53%; Presco, 23.26%; and Zenith Bank, 23.12%; among others.
Livestock Feeds followed Law Union on the gainers’ side, chalking 40% in the period under review, as insurance stocks dominated the gainers’ table. May & Baker followed with 39.9%; Beta Glass, 30.11%; Julius Berger, 29.65%; Cornerstone Insurance and AIICO Insurance rose 22.22% and 19.44% respectively.