Nigerian Exchange Lost N119bn as Investors Exit Stock Positions
A tidal wave of selling hit some companies stocks listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on Wednesday. Hence, the market capitalisation declined as profit taking caused equities investors’ portfolio value to shrink by more than N119 billion on Wednesday.
Despite positive market breadth, the market headed south, and key performance indicators dropped by 0.18%, effectively reversing the previous day’s gain. The downturn was driven by selling pressure in some large-cap stocks, particularly within the Banking sector.
Notable losers included Ecobank, Unilever Nigeria, Fidelity Bank and some other bellwethers. Fidelity Bank and some heavyweight tier1 lenders also saw price depreciation in the local bourse.
Following the sell pressures, the market index or All-Share Index reduced by 189.74 basis points to close at 104,187. However, the market activities were mixed, as the total volume of all trades consummated on the Exchange decreased by 18.23%, while the total value increased by 17.64%.
In its note, Atlass Portfolios Limited told investors that approximately 376.62 million units valued at N11,887.60 million were transacted across 11,576 deals.
In terms of volume, GTCO led the activity chart, accounting for 16.72% of the total volume of all trades conducted followed by ACCESSCORP (13.66%), ZENITHBANK (8.60%), UBA (6.00%), and MBENEFIT (4.84%), rounding out the top five.
GTCO also emerged as the most traded stock in value terms, accounting for 34.51% of the total value of all transaction conducted in the equities segment of the Nigerian Exchange.
LIVESTOCK and VFDGROUP topped the advancers’ chart with a price appreciation of 10.00 percent each, trailed by NGXGROUP (+9.86%) WAPIC (+9.60%), UNIONDICON (+9.48%), NEM (+9.32%), VERITASKAP (+9.30%) and twenty-six others.
Twenty-three (23) stocks depreciated, according to stockbrokers. NAHCO, and LEARNAFRCA were the top losers, with a price depreciation of -10.00% each.
Other decliners include ETI (-9.90%), UNILEVER (-9.75%), CORNERST (-5.39%), FIDELITYBK (-3.24%), and FIRSTHOLDCO (-2.38%). Despite the negative sentiment, the market breadth closed positive, recording 33 gainers and 23 losers.
Also, the market sectoral performance was negative, as three of the five major market sectors went down. The Banking sector declined by 1.60%, followed by the Consumer goods sector which slowed down by 0.23% and the Industrial sector fell by 0.04%.
The Insurance and Oil & Gas sectors recorded a growth of 2.67% and 0.47% respectively. Overall, the Nigerian Exchange market capitalisation fell by N119.22 billion to close at N65.47 trillion. #Nigerian Exchange Lost N119bn as Investors Exit Stock Positions Nigeria Targets N150bn Annual Income From Livestock Exports
