Equities Investors Lose N539bn amidst Portfolio Rebalancing
Equities investors on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) trading platform lost N539 billion in the just concluded week due to sell side activities spurred by portfolio rebalancing ahead of third quarter earnings festival.
The market index or All Share Index and market capitalization declined by 0.95% to close at 97.520.54 points and N56.04 trillion on Friday, respectively.
Market momentum was weak, fueled by sell interest across small, mid, and large-cap stocks, accor5ding to Cowry Asset Limited. The market ended with two bearish and two bullish outings.
The Nigerian Exchange equities market cap dip reflects renewed bearish sentiment, as sell-offs across key sectors like the banking and industrial goods weighed on market performance.
Trading records showed that NGX year to date return moderated to 30.42%, tracking behind annual inflation rate. The market saw more gainers (45) compared to the week’s losers of 33 last week.
As a result, the weekly trade value advanced by 188.7% week-on-week to N132.63 billion, while the traded volumes this week declined by 13.9% week on week to 2.85 billion shares, all executed in 39,529 deals— a 20% decrease from the previous week.
Across the sectoral spectrum, performance was in the mixed bag, with three of the five sectors under observation closing in the bullish territory, Cowry Asset Limited said in an update.
On a week-on-week basis, the Oil & Gas (+7.29%) index emerged as the best-performing index on the back of the strong demand in SEPLAT (+21.00%).
Trailing the Oil & Gas index, the Insurance (+3.81%) and Consumer Goods (+0.34%) indexes recorded positive returns driven by buying interest in NEM (+14.38%) and INTBREW (+9.98%), respectively.
On the flip side, the Industrial Goods (-6.84%) and Banking (-0.74%) indexes shed some value following sell pressures in DANGCEM (-10.00%) and FBNH (-11.19%), respectively.
The NGX-Oil & Gas and NGX-Insurance indexes led the charge with weekly gains of 7.29% and 3.81%, respectively, driven by buying interest in stocks such as SEPLAT, VERITASKAP, REGALINS, and NEM.
At the close of the week, stocks like DEAPCAP (32%), SEPLAT ENERGY (21%), TRIPPLE G (20%), VERITASKAP (20%), and REGALINS (19%) emerged as the top gainers, drawing significant investor attention.
Conversely, MCNICHOLS (-19%), FIDELITYBK (-18%), DANGSUGAR (-14%), FBNH (-13%), and DANGCEM (-10%) were the week’s laggards, as investors offloaded these stocks as part of a broader portfolio rebalancing exercise.
Stockbrokers at Cowry Asset Limited anticipate a positive outing for the local bourse as the Exchange shows signs of recovery heading into the final quarter of the year.
The market awaits the nine months performance scorecards of some of the early filers such as GEREGU, DANGCEM, DANGSUGAR, MTNN, amongst others. #Equities Investors Lose N539bn amidst Portfolio Rebalancing
