All Shares Index Down 17bps as investors lose N32.9 billion
Stock market performance nosedived as key indicators slipped due to bearish activities that further pressed prices.
Specifically, sell-offs in STANBIC (-2.6%) MTNN (-0.3%) and WAPCO (-3.0%) weighed on performance as the All Share Index (ASI) shed 17 basis points to 27,273.14 points.
Consequently, year to date, YTD, loss declined to -13.2% while market capitalization decreased by N32.9 billion to N13.3 trillion.
Similarly, activity level waned as volume and value traded fell 46.8% and 24.8% to 133.3m units and N2.4bn respectively. GUARANTY (35.0m units) FBNH (12.2m units).
GUINNESS (10.1m units) led the top traded stocks by volume while GUARANTY (N925.9m), MTNN (N579.5m) and GUINNESS (N377.8m) were the top traded stocks by value.
Across sectors, four of the six indices under Afrinvest coverage declined, one appreciated and one closed flat. Leading the laggards was the Industrial Goods index which shed 0.7% due to sell-offs in WAPCO (-3.0%).
The Banking and Consumer Goods indices followed suit, down 0.2% apiece as STANBIC (-2.6%), ACCESS (-2.3%), DANGSUGAR (-3.4%) and PZ (-5.1%) recorded losses. In the same vein, the AFRI-ICT index lost 0.2% following price depreciation in MTNN (-0.3%).
On the flip side, the Oil & Gas index emerged lone gainer, up 0.1% as investors sought bargains in FORTE (+1.4%) while the Insurance index closed flat.
Investor sentiment, measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio), improved to 0.8x from 0.7x recorded yesterday as 13 tickers gained while 17 declined.
The top performers were UAC-PROP (+10.0%), UACN (+10.0%) and CADBURY (+6.5%) while IKEJAHOTEL (-9.3%), HONEYFLOUR (-7.1%) and PZ (-5.1%) were the worst performing stocks.
“We expect the bearish trend to persist, although we believe there are opportunities for bargain hunting in the equities market”, Afrinvest said.
All Shares Index Down 17bps as investors lose N32.9 billion
