The Nation Newspaper

Tag: bank

  • Bank supports shipping line to boost African trade

    Bank supports shipping line to boost African trade

    The Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) is providing funding and support to set up a shipping company to boost intra-African movement of goods, an official said.Vessels from the West Africa Sealink Co, as the company will be known, will call on ports on the Atlantic coast from Dakar, Senegal, in the north to Libreville, Gabon in the south, Chinedu Moghalu, a spokesman for the Abuja-based lender, told Bloomberg in an e-mailed response to questions.

    “Total investment for the new company is estimated at $60 million for a start,” Moghalu said. Prospective investors will meet in Accra, the capital of Ghana, before the end of September to work out “‘the allocation of shares and conclusion of key appointments and partnerships” ahead of the company’s start by the first quarter of next year, he said.

    Trade among members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) accounts for about 11 per cent of the group’s trade, while business with Europe represents 45 per cent, according to the Nigerian lender also known as NEXIM. Factors slowing regional trade include current trans-shipment arrangements through Europe that result in an average of 60 days delivery from the port of Lagos to that of Accra, it said.

    The Sealink project is intended to “increase trade flows, reduce time and costs” while “improving duty receipts by national governments and port authorities,” Moghalu said.

    At the start, the shipping company will ply routes between west and central Africa before expanding its services to southern Africa and South America, he said.

  • Bank set to appeal court’s dismissal of objection

    Bank set to appeal court’s dismissal of objection

    FinBank Plc (formerly FirstInland Bank Plc) has said it would appeal the ruling of a Lagos State High Court, Igbosere which dismissed its objection

    seeking to quash a fraud charge brought against it by the state.

    The bank had prayed the court to quash the charge on the ground that it was incompetent.

    It said it was based on the repealed Criminal Code Law of Lagos State 2003.

    Besides, the bank said as a corporate entity, it cannot be convicted for a crime where the punishment is imprisonment.

    Finbank added that the mental element constituting the alleged offences could not be attributed to any identified natural person in the bank.

    But the state’s lawyer, Mr Tani Molajo (SAN) urged the court to dismiss the application.

    Ruling, Justice Christopher Balogun said available evidence was sufficient to sustain the charge.

    The bank’s lawyer, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) told our reporter at the weekend that he is awaiting his client’s instructions to file an appeal.

    He said: “As his Lordship said in court, a copy of the ruling should be ready this week. We will take further instructions from our client then.

    “It is reasonable to assume that there would be an appeal.”

    Lagos State charged Finbank with stealing, forgery and perjury which contravene sections 390 (8), 467 and 118 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap C.17, Laws of Lagos State 2003.

    It said Finbank, between December 6, 2002 and December 31, 2009 at 1, Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, fraudulently converted to its use, sums of money belonging to Zumax Nigeria Limited, received under a receivership, in excess of N465,635,070.16.

    The state said the bank, “by fraudulent suppression and misrepresentation of facts in respect of Zumax’s Current Accounts,” alleged that Zumax owed it the money.

    It added that the bank, within the same period, allegedly “made a false statement of account in respect of a Current Account belonging to Zumax.”

    Lagos said the bank did so “knowing it to be false in that it concealed and omitted to disclose sums belonging to Zumax, with the intent that it may be used and acted upon as genuine, to the prejudice of Zumax or another in the belief that it is genuine.”

    The prosecution further alleged that Finbank on or about March 10, 2006 and February 7, 2007 procured the services of a law firm to depose to an alleged false testimony in two other suits.

    The bank, it said, did so “knowing it to be false by affidavits dated March 10, 2006 and February 7th, 2007 respectively, that under a receivership initiated by the said Finbank, a total sum of only N215,000,000.00 was received for and on account of Zumax Nigeria Limited.”

    Justice Balogun adjourned till November 14.

     

  • N.45m theft: Three bank officials in police net in Ado-Ekiti

    Three workers of a new generation bank in Ado-Ekiti have been arrested by the police for alleged theft of N450,000 from a couple.

    The couple, Dr. Tunde Akindele and Mrs. Josephine Akindele, in a telephone interview with reporters said they came from Ife in Osun State on a visit to their relations at Ijelu farmstead in Ado-Ekiti.

    They said they went to the bank to withdraw the said amount but ended losing it in a way they considered strange.

    Mrs. Akindele said: “When I said I needed a withdrawal form, a lady at the counter told me to use the Automated Teller Machine (ATM). When I attempted it, it was rejected twice. The machine would just not do it.

    “Then the lady I spoke with across the counter contacted another worker in the bank who she referred to as the computer operator. While the computer operator was working on the computer system, she made a telephone call.

    “I was eventually paid the money across the counter by the same cashier and left the bank, keeping the money in a safe in the car.

    “We left the bank’s premises and headed for Ijelu but observed that a green Honda was following us right from the bank but we did not think it could be robbers planning their game on us.”

    She said at Ijelu where they had gone to see their father-in-law, they did not spend 10 minutes. When they came out, only their car had been vandalised and the money was stolen.

    “Our mobile handsets, my handbag and some cash were all lying on the car seat but none of these were touched by the thieves. That sparked our curiosity,” Akindele said.

    A private prosecutor, Niran Owoseni, said the case was transferred to the State Investigation Bureau (SIB) .

    Owoseni said he had sought the Attorney-General’s fiat to prosecute the matter.

    But, police spokesperson Mr. Olu Victor Babayemi said he was not aware of the development.

  • Access Bank’s half-year profit hits N30b

    Access Bank’s half-year profit hits N30b

    Access Bank Plc has announced an audited Profit Before Tax (PBT) of N30.07 billion for its half-year ended on June 30, 2012.

    A statement from the bank said its Profit After Tax (PAT) grew by a 225 per cent to N26.13 billion compared with the N8.08 billion recorded in the corresponding period in 2011.

    Similarly, the bank’s Profit Before Tax (PBT) rose from N12.37 billion recorded for half-year in 2011 to N30.07 billion in June, 2012, representing a 143 per cent growth over last year’s performance. Gross earnings rose by 103 per cent to N108.7 billion in relation to last year’s figure of N53.65 billion.

    The bank’s Group Managing Director/CEO Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, said the bank is now firmly established as a top tier Nigerian Bank. “Leveraging on our sustainability driven business philosophy, robust capital position and the quality of our workforce. I am confident that we will continue to deliver strong returns for our investors in 2012,” he said.

    Analysts have described the bank’s performance as a valid testament to its financial strength and capacity for sustainable growth.

    Analysis of the result has shown that Access Bank is already extracting value from its acquisition of Intercontinental Bank by leveraging scale and access to large retail deposit base evidenced by the Bank’s low cost of fund.

     

  • Kano signs pact with bank

    Kano signs pact with bank

    •N500m vote for facilities

    Kano State Government has signed a N500 million Public Private Partnership (PPP) deal with Jaiz Bank Plc and Agama Consortium for the establishment, implementation and operation of the Kano Geographic Information System (KANGIS), under the state land act.

    Signing the agreement at the Government House yesterday, Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso said the provision of affordable accommodation for the indigenes is part of the policy of his administration.

    He said government has concluded arrangements to sell houses to the residents, adding that those who cannot afford to buy the houses would be given loans.

    The Managing Director of Jaiz Bank, Mustapha Bintube, said the agreement is based on a three-year PPP arrangement, comprising three indigenous companies. He added that Jaiz Bank would serve as the funding and lead collection bank.

    Bintube said the KANGIS PPP contract, would among other benefits, modernise and computerise land administration in Kano, as well as boost government’s internally-generated revenue (IGR).

    He said it would also facilitate the creation of ‘bankable’ land title documents or Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) for urban and rural land, including agricultural plots.

     

     

     

     

  • Govt urges support for non-interest banking

    Govt urges support for non-interest banking

    The Federal Government is committed to making sure that the non-interest banking system takes strong root in the country as well as provide Nigerians with good alternatives.

    Minister of State for Finance, Dr Yerima Lawan Ngama, who spoke yesterday in Abuja at a seminar on ‘Developing Islamic Financial Institutions in Nigeria,’ organised by Mutual Benefits Assurance plc, denied insinuations that non-interest banking was a religious system.

    He urged Nigerians to take advantage of the non-interest financial system, adding that the benefits of the Islamic financing system helps to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.

    He said: “In Islamic banking system, there is compassion and transparency in the process, just as secrecy is not allowed from any of the parties,” adding that in the Islamic financing system, everybody is his brother’s keepers.

    He noted that some of the unethical practices that endangers people’s monies in conventional banks are not present in Islamic banking system.

    He however lamented the dearth of knowledge on the Islamic banking concept, urging stakeholders to do more in the area of capacity building and publicity.

    Speaking earlier, the Managing Director of Jaiz Bank, Mohammed Mustapha Bintube, said, Nigeria was ripe for an alternative source of banking, considering the fact that the global credit crunch didn’t affect Islamic banks, while it affected the conventional banks seriously.

    He said his group intended to make Nigeria the financial hub of Africa, adding that the country has no reason to be the second largest business destination in Africa behind South Africa.

  • Senate, House to CBN: don’t print N5000 note

    Senate, House to CBN: don’t print N5000 note

    Lawmakers will urge Jonathan to stop Sanusi

     

    AFTER a brief lull, the N5,000 banknote row resurfaced yesterday.

    Senators were angry with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s insistence on introducing the N5000 banknote.

    They unanimously vowed to stop the CBN from re-denominating and issuing N5000 note.

    It was their first sitting after a long break.

    The lawmakers resolved “to urge President Goodluck Jonathan and the CBN to stop issuance of N5000 note and all issues connected therewith”.

    This followed the unanimous adoption of a motion entitled “Introduction of N5000 notes by the CBN”.

    The motion, sponsored by Rules and Business Committee chair Senator Ita Enang (Akwa Ibom North East) saw Senators express anger over what they described as exhibition of “arrogance, high handedness and claim of monopoly of knowledge” by Sanusi

    Senate President David Mark noted that it was obvious that the argument for the introduction of N5000 “is not convincing”. “The disadvantages of the N5000 note, at the moment, far outweigh not introducing it and, on balance, we should not go for it,” he said.

    Mark said: “I also heard it from the news the way you heard it. I was not briefed. The only briefing I had about this issue was in the national dailies.

    “The important thing is that if Nigerians say they don’t want a particular policy at any given moment, there is no harm in government retracing their stand on the issue and I think that is the situation that we find ourselves.

    “I have listened to the arguments from those who support it, but those arguments are simply not convincing.

    “They appear to me to be highly theoretical and technical in nature and they do not address any practical issue on ground.

    “Any policy that does not address issues directly but just talking about indices we cannot verify for now should wait.

    “We have not reached that level where we are just talking of hypothetical cases all the time.

    “I think the disadvantages of the N5000 notes at the moment far outweigh not introducing it and on balance, we should not go for it.

    “And also, from the contributions on the floor, we are all in support of the fact that the timing is wrong and the policy is unnecessary at the moment and the arguments being advanced is not convincing and there is no urgent need for it to take place now.

    “There is no ambiguity on our stand on the issue. I am not sure that Sanusi is aware of the Constitution. If he was, he would make reference to us before addressing the issue.”

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu noted that though he may not be an economist, he understood the implications of the controversial fiscal policy.

    Ekweremadu said on the basis of sovereignty, Nigerians have spoken through their representatives, “it is in the interest of the government to listen and withdraw from this course they are pursuing”.

    Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba (Cross River Central), who seconded the motion described it as timely.

    Ndoma-Egba noted that in a democracy, nobody should claim a monopoly of knowledge or wisdom.

    According to him, monopoly of knowledge and wisdom is strange to democracy and “even if the policy were to be for the good of the people and they say they don’t want it, it is their right to reject something that is even good for them”.

    “This is one moment that our policy makers must listen to every Nigerian, even those in the street, Ndoma-Egba said, adding:

    “In this case, I am not an economist and I don’t pretend to be one, but former heads of state of this nation has spoken.

    “Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has spoken against this policy and, recently, the very respected Yakubu Gowon spoke against it.

    “They may not be economists, as has been alluded, but with their knowledge or lack of knowledge to manage the economy of this country for very many years, we must listen to them.”

    Ndoma-Egba said that Nigerians must reaffirm their commitment to the fight against corruption.

    He said, “We cannot in one breadth be saying we are committed to the fight and in the same breadth we make it convenient for people to move around with millions of Naira in their pockets. So, on those two points, because I believe that there are several other points against but with just these two, I support this motion and urge our other colleagues to support it.”

    Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi (Ekiti North) said that the debate of the planned redenomination of the naira is important because it has a lot of technical contents as well as emotional aspects.

    He added that the parliament must be able to distinguish between both and be seen to inform the public appropriately.

    He said, “There are about four platforms upon which this policy is predicated and over the period of the holiday, I had the privilege of doing extensive study to find out what really is the motive behind this policy, which has generated a lot of debate.  The very first one is the issue of dollarization.

    “A respected member of the Economic Management Team of Mr President had said and I quote, Mr. Atedo Peterside:

    “Money is a store of value and all these thieves and vagabonds running around the various states and all over the country, when they steal money, they will want to keep it outside the banking system.

    “So, they need higher denominational notes. Right now, they are using the $100 notes all over Nigeria because they are the best store of values for them.

    “If you give them a better store of value, they will move away from dollar and reduce the demands for American notes and move into our currency as opposed to the use of dollars to hide their loot.”

    “This was Atedo Peterside speaking to Nigerian media on the reason why Nigerians should support this policy of government and here we are as a legislature, part of the ruling class that is being referred to, that this note is meant for us to hide loot.

    “This is a serious issue. It is true that the US dollar and British Pounds is a store of value outside the United States and the United Kingdom.

    “You want to store your value in a currency that is stable and hard, not in naira.

    “We need to work naira to the level of reputation that other international currencies are enjoying now before we can position naira to store value locally.

    “We are also told that the equivalent of this N5000 naira is just about 30 dollars.”

    Senator Smart Adeyemi (Kogi West) described the planned fiscal policy as “ungodly, satanic, unconstitutional and uncalled for and does not make reasonable economic sense”.

    Adeyemi cautioned President Jonathan to be wary of some of his aides.

    He said Sanusi has turned out to be one of those misleading Jonathan.

    He said it is ungodly for Sanusi to attempt to divide Nigerians through the introduction of a currency that would be used by only a section of Nigerians.

    Finance Committee chair, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, said the statement by Sanusi that the N5000 is not for every Nigerian is a slight on Nigerians.

    He said that the CBN boss woke up and announced a major fiscal policy, thereby taking Nigerians for granted.

    Enang, in his lead debate, urged the Senate to note that on Thursday, the 23rd of August, 2012, the CBN announced the introduction of the 5000 Naira note as legal tender in Nigeria and the redenomination of the Naira.

    He said the Senate should consider the proposal as a direct negation of the cashless policy of the Jonathan administration, which discourages cash transaction in preference for electronic cashless transactions now in operation.

    He noted that the Senate should be aware that in cashless economies, such as Nigeria, high bills or currency notes, such as the proposed N5000, are not required as transactions are conducted from the payer to the payee’s accounts without any need for physical exchange or handling of cash by either of the parties.

    The Senate, he said, should be worried that the policy will create multiple economic problems, such as inflation, corruption and security challenges, and would erode the value of the nation’s currency and ruin the economy.

    Other Senators who supported the motion included Senators Abdul Ningi, Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman, Isa Galadu, Atai Idoko, Bello Tukur, Mohammed Ali Ndume and Bassey Otu.

  • How banker ‘stole N23 b’ as loans to firms, by EFCC

    How banker ‘stole N23 b’ as loans to firms, by EFCC

    A Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, yesterday heard how a former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Bank PHB Plc, Mr Ugo Anyanwu, authorised the transfer of N23billion of depositors’ funds to some accounts without their owners’ approval.

    An Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigator, Mr David Ikpe, said the beneficiaries of the transferred sums did not follow the due banking process of applying for a loan.

    Anyanwu is standing trial before Justice Lateefah Okunnu, along with a former Managing Director of BankPHB, Mr Francis Atuche and his wife, Elizabeth.
    The EFCC brought a 27-count charge bothering on alleged conspiracy to commit felony and stealing against them. It said they allegedly stole the bank’s N25.7 billion between November 2007 and April 2008. They denied the charges.

    According to the agency, the three conspired with one another to steal from the bank various sums of money, which were fraudulently described as loans to various companies, including Future View Securities, Extra Oil Limited, Resolution Trust and Investment Limited, Petosan Oil and Gas and Tradjek Nigeria Limited.

    Testifying at the trial yesterday, Ikpe said Anyanwu gave the instructions to other bank officials to make the transfers, using his position as CFO, adding that the transactions were “not normal.”

    His investigations, he said, revealed that some officers who were asked to make the transfers “raised eyebrows.”  He said a bank official, Ifetayo Obi, complained that “she never had the customer’s instruction to transfer these funds.”

    The witness said an official asked to make a transfer had written on the instruction document: ‘Customer Instruction Outstanding.’ “The conceptualisation and utility of the transfers were not normal. The beneficial owners ought to have applied and approval given. It was the impunity that characterised the banking sector in the past which brought us here,” Ikpe said.

    According to him, the owner of one of the companies to which funds were transferred, Peter Ololo, expressed “shock” when his name was published as being indebted to Bank PHB.

    “Ololo said he did not authorise the transfers. The transfers were made without the knowledge of the owner of the account,” the witness said, adding that Ololo was confronted as to why the accounts were debited.

    Ikpe, however, admitted that no particular unit of shares was traced to Anyanwu’s account, and that the phone numbers and signatures on the transfer documents were not all of defendant’s.

    He also said Anyanwu was not on the committee charged with granting loans, but insisted: “As the Chief Financial Officer, his role in authorising the payments is clear.”
    “The third defendant (Anyanwu) authorised the transfer of the N23billion,” he said. “That the third defendant ordered this transfer is not in doubt. I did not see these transactions as done in the normal course of banking transaction. I disagree that it was a normal transaction.”

    Ikpe also admitted that he did not find any query in respect of the transfers Anyanwu authorised. EFCC in the charge said the defendants allegedly converted N25.7 billion to their personal use to acquire hundreds of millions of units of shares, including 140,625,000 units of Bank PHB shares on behalf of Guesstrade Services.

    They also allegedly used over N1 billion, fraudulently described as a loan from the bank and converted it to their own personal use by using it to buy 112,500,000 units of BankPHB shares on behalf of Sebtron Trading.

    Other companies involved in the alleged multi-billion naira fraud are: Montrax Investico, Claremount Asset Management Limited, Arabian Probity Management, Clearville Business Support, Commercial Trading and Services Limited, Trenton Trade Limited, Stamford Global Concept Limited, Felimon Enterprises, Ghzali Yakubu Investment Limited and AFCO Associates Limited.

    Atuche, Elizabeth and Anyanwu pleaded not guilty to all the counts.

  • For the large bank buildings, the economy was lost

    For the large bank buildings, the economy was lost

    This week, dear reader, this column is under the weather for various reasons. It is reeling right now under the weight of the Universal Madness Bug (UMB) that has bitten into different aspects of our universal existence. On the foreign scene, there is the one who allegedly makes a film in America while others pay the price for it with their lives without ever having watched the said film. At home, there is a government that has decided to be functionally indifferent to the protests of its people over its desire to introduce a central bank note of N5000. Then, there is the Nigerian market. Now, Nigerians have found themselves buying a small bowl of beans for the price it took them to buy nearly a bag of the stuff a year or two before. Yes indeed, friend, the world is gone mad, worse than the hatter! And the bank is to blame.

    Oh yes, there is a connection all right. Listen. The most recurrent nightmare most men (or women) have in this world is not knowing where to empty their bladders and bowels. No, that comes second. The one that comes first is not having something to put into the system in the first place that would require emptying. The story is told that somewhere in the world, people queued up for the services of a bathroom. The first man, who was rather fat, entered and everyone on the queue could hear the belch and the fart loudly as he relieved himself. He came out refitting his belt with quite some difficulty and everyone thought, there goes a highly satisfied man. Life has been kind to his mouth. The second man went in and everyone could also hear the gurgling sounds coming from his nether regions and everyone thought, as he also came out refitting his belt with difficulty, that life had treated his hands kindly. He got something to do. The third man to go in was a thin, desperately poor man who nevertheless hated to advertise the fact. He hated the fact that people would know he was poor if he could not bring out sounds of wealth from his bowels. So, he went in, sat a while on the bowl and began to make very impressive thunder-like sounds. Thinking it was about to rain, everyone ran for cover. After doing his little business, the poor man came out thinking, life is good.

    Seriously, I read in the news this last week about how a minister was complaining loudly that the banks had contributed little to the Nigerian economy, and I thought, ain’t that right! I have said it umpteen times here (or was it in my dreams?) that the Nigerian banks are more pre-occupied with making money than rendering any service. All you have to do is listen to the obscene, year-end profits declared by these banks to know that many things are not right. I always think, what business has a bank to go declaring profits when it has not carried out its real business? You ask me what their real business is? I’ll tell you.

    The real business of the banks is to cater to my business needs. I want to buy/build a house, buy a car, plant pineapples, raise chickens, feed birds, buy shoes, etc., I should be able to contact my banker. Indeed, in many cultures, valued family relationships are often in this order: father, mother, family doctor-lawyer-banker, children, etc. In many societies, the banker gets called to a death-bed the same time as the doctor. So, who says bankers are not important? The truth is that Nigerian bankers have abandoned their first love: their clients, and have gone after money; or houses (in the fashion of the former Oceanic Bank boss) or both. This is why they cannot serve their nation, like good youth corps members. As I am writing this, I have no idea who the manager of my bank is; neither, I dare say, does he even know that I am his client, thank God.

    Nigerian banks can be more contributory to the Nigerian economy if they would just take a few short steps. First, our banks should please stop making money the end of, rather than the means to, good service. Imagine, how can a single bank be left in the enviable position to scramble madly for money at all costs? If I did that, I would be sent to prison. It is a distortion of duties when banks run wildly after money in order to make quick gains which the manager then sits over, as we have seen done in many of the cases before the courts. Don’t we know that puts the said managers in all kinds of danger, such as being sitting targets for all kinds of friendships? In gatherings now, bank managers are introduced after governors.

    Now, listen to this story which really happened, I assure you. Once, someone was posted to a town to oversee the operations of the newly established branch of his bank. Naturally, he asked his nearest though poor relation in that town for a church he and his family could attend. At the church, the manager and his family were introduced to the overseer of the church by this same relation. Soon, the same relation noticed a fast friendship developing between the overseer and the bank manager. In a short while, the friendship rapidly grew to the point of exchanging home visits. The poor man felt rather left out. ‘In all the years I have been attending that church, the overseer never visited me,’ he grumbled.

    Again, I have sort of noticed that Nigerian banks seem to have a predilection to build preposterously big buildings and I always ask, whatever for? Why on earth does each bank feel so compelled to put up such mammoth, gigantic, beautiful, awesome buildings? No wonder my money does not come out of the ATM machine so fast: it has a long distance to cover. Clearly, you do not need a very large space to do business involving millions of any currency and I am talking from experience — no, not my own experience, someone else’s.

    You remember the children’s rhyme that goes something like this: for the loss of a shoe, the horse was lost, for the loss of a horse the soldier was lost and for the loss of a soldier the battle was lost, don’t you? Well, for the large buildings which shield our bankers and their operations, the Nigerian economy is going… going… Right now, the banks cannot see the economy because their views are blocked by their large buildings. I honestly cannot find any reason at all to construct large buildings, particularly now that ATMs are stationed by the roadsides where rain and sun and armed robbers visit the poor heads of the users.

    So, here’s what I think. I think bank managers should go outside and take a look at their buildings and then decide if they really need them. Their decisions may even help them reduce their overhead costs. Then they should commit more into agriculture. This is where our bowl of beans comes in. If farmers are made the targets of at least a good part of the banks’ resources, surely the advantages will come round to us all. Food prices would come down. Families would, for instance, stop counting the number of beans to put on the children’s plates and, more importantly, the farmer may get to be able to bring some of his earnings back to the bank for safe-keeping. Then, more agriculture-related businesses can open up. Seriously, I would rather that the central bank addressed this problem before thinking about introducing new notes.

     

  • Equities lose N33b as profit-taking persists

    Investors continued to cash in substantial capital gains on equities as profit-taking trading that started the week extended a bit further yesterday, shaving off N33 billion from aggregate market value of quoted equities.

    The All Share Index (ASI) and aggregate market value of equities, the two main value-based indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) dropped by 0.42 per cent as investors monetised substantial gains on several highly capitalised stocks. The second consecutive decline pushed the year-to-date return at NSE to 18.51 per cent.

    Market capitalisation of all quoted equities slipped from N7.854 trillion to N7.821 trillion. The ASI declined to 24,568.57 points as against its opening index of 24,671.47 points.

    The downtrend was orchestrated by losses recorded by stocks such as Nigerian Breweries, Cadbury Nigeria, UAC of Nigeria, Ashaka Cement, First Bank of Nigeria, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria and Union Bank of Nigeria, all of which had recorded double digit capital appreciation in recent period.

    Nigerian Breweries led the decliners with a loss of N2.05 to close at N125.45. Cadbury Nigeria followed with a loss of N1.04 to close at N19.86. UACN dropped by 65 kobo to N35.41. Ashaka Cement lost 57 kobo to close at N11.17. GlaxoSmithKline dropped by 50 kobo to N32. Presco slipped by 48 kobo to N14.42. First Bank lost 32 kobo to close at N13.98 while Union Bank dropped 30 kobo to close at N6.21.

    However, several stocks showed strong resilience against the general downtrend. Unilever Nigeria set a new high with a gain of 92 kobo to close at N38.91. Guinness Nigeria also added 70 kobo to close at N252.90. International Breweries rose by 56 kobo to N11.77. Mobil Oil Nigeria gained 50 kobo to close at N115. Lafarge  Cement Wapco Nigeria added 47 kobo to close at N46.02. Roads chalked up 40 kobo to close at N8.42 while Access Bank Plc, which declared an interim dividend of 25 kobo, gathered 24 kobo to close at N8.74.

    Total turnover stood at 265.774 million shares worth N2.579 billion in 4,955 deals. The financial services sector remained atop activity chart with a turnover of 221.203 million shares worth N2.031 billion in 3,194 deals.