Stocks Plunge as Investors Take Profits after 2-Day Rally
Trading activities on the Nigerian Exchange today closed on a negative note as weak investors’ sentiments ensured that a bourse turned bearish. As a result, the benchmark index retreated by 0.06 percent to close at 38,414.37 points. Though, market breadth turned positive with 18 gainers and 17 losers.
Overall, stocks plunged N13 billion as equities investors take profits after a 2-day rally as bears push the Nigerian Exchange All-share index (NGXASI) lower.
Sell-offs in ZENITH (-0.7%), SEPLAT (-1.2%), and WAPCO (-0.9%) were noted to have dragged the equities market southward today, as the benchmark index fell to 38,414.37 points. Consequently, year-to-date loss increased to -4.61 % while market capitalisation settled at ₦20.035 trillion.
The most traded stocks by volume were UCAP (24.0m units), VERITASKAP (23.1m units), and ETERNA (21.6m units) while ZENITH (₦470.7m), SEPLAT (₦285.0m), and GUARANTY (₦240.7m) led by value.
NSE Banking, NSE Oil & Gas, NSE Consumer Goods and NSE Industrial lost 0.13%, 0.86%, 0.27% and 0.06%, while NSE Insurance – the best performing sector today- gained 1.51%.
Performance
Today, market activities closed on a higher note with both volume and value of trades appreciating by 36.15 percent and 24.17 percent respectively. A total of 274.85 million units of shares valued at N2.63 billion were traded in 4,159 deals.
UCAP led the volume sheet with 8.72 percent as VERITASKAP, ETERNA, ZENITH BANK, and TRANSCORP completed the top 5 volume sheet, while ZENITH BANK led the value sheet accounting for 17.88% of the shares traded
MORRISON, WAPIC and UPL led other gainers, grew their share prices by 9.57 percent, 9.43 percent and 9.40 percent respectively. While CHAMPION led the losers chart with its share price depreciating by 9.91 percent to close at N1.91 after opening the day at N2.21.
“In the next trading session, we expect market performance to remain tepid, due to absence of positive drivers”, Afrinvest said in a market report.
Stocks Plunge as Investors Take Profits after 2-Day Rally
