Seplat, Guinness, Nigerian Breweries, others drag equities further south

Equity investors at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) lost about N25bn yesterday from the value of their stocks as sell pressure further weighed equities.
The value loss affected mostly investors in the shares of Seplat Petroleum Development Company plc, Guinness Nigeria plc, Nigerian Breweries plc, UACN Property Development Company and Vitafoam plc.
The NSE All Share Index (ASI) declined to 34,459.84 points from 34,533.40 points recorded the preceding trading day, indicating a decline of 73.56 points or 0.21 percent.
The value of listed equities evidenced in the position of the market capitalisation declined to N11.708trn from N11.733trn the preceding trading day. In 3,876 deals, equity dealers traded 196.212 million units valued at N1.357bn.
Chams plc, Skye Bank plc, Ecobank Transnational plc, FCMB Group plc, and Fidelity Bank plc were the actively traded stocks at the Nigerian bourse yesterday.
Seplat Petroleum Development Company plc led the losers’ table after its share price declined from N386 to N372.22, losing N13.78.
Guinness Nigeria plc declined by N1, from N159.05 to N158.05. Nigerian Breweries plc dipped from N154.6 to N153.98, down by N0.62.
UACN Property Development Company also declined from N10.4 to N10, losing N0.4; while Vitafoam plc dipped from N5.29 to N5.03, losing N0.26.
On the gainers’ table, National Salt Company of Nigeria plc occupied topmost level after its share price moved up marginally by N0.23, from N8.15 to N8.38; followed by Fidson Healthcare plc which rose from N3.3 to N3.44, adding N0.14.
Also, Dangote Cement plc advanced from N177.64 to N177.75, after adding N0.11; Vono Products plc gained N0.1, from N1.02 to N1.12; while Dangote Sugar Refinery plc advanced from N6.49 to N6.59, adding N0.1.