Equities Investors Lose N190bn as Market Sentiment Shifts
Equities investors in the Nigerian stock market recorded more than N140 billion daily loss on Wednesday due to shifting market sentiment. Following some unimpressive earnings releases, there has been some investment repositioning that triggered sell pressures.
Key stock assets across sectors have become quite volatile compared with the previous uptrend that lifted equities market capitalisation near N60 trillion. Despite this, the year-to-date return is still strong when compared to the 31.70% annual inflation rate.
However, stable income-seeking institutional investors are now focusing on the higher yield in the fixed interest securities market.
Today, key performance indicators of the Nigerian Exchange dropped by -0.32%. In an update, Atlass Portfolios Limited informed clients that despite high inflation and interest rates, investors continued to have a bearish view of other asset classes, and the local exchange maintained this stance the day before.
As a result, the All-Share Index, also known as the market index, closed at 104,181.32 today, down -0.32%, or 336.82 basis points.
Furthermore, market activities went south. There was a decrease of -23.38% and -37.71% in the overall volume and value traded during the day. Approximately 405.03 million units valued at ₦8,908.21 million were transacted in 10,364 deals.
ACCESSCORP was the most traded stock in terms of volume, accounting for 12.35% of the total volume of trades. The stock was trailed by UBA (12.11%), TRANSCORP (11.35%), ZENITHBANK (10.34%), and GTCO (7.34%) to complete the top 5 on the volume chart.
ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock in value terms, with 20.93% of the total value of trades on the exchange. UPL topped the advancers’ chart for today with a price appreciation of 9.84 percent.
The company was trailed by SCOA which gained +9.69%. Other gainers are MORISON (+9.66%), CUTIX (+9.62%), MBENEFIT (+9.38%), ROYALEX (+6.06%), and fifteen others. Thirty-two stocks depreciated, according to information obtained from the Nigerian Exchange.
INTENEGINS and CAVERTON were the top losers, with a price depreciation of -10.00% each. Other losers are STERLINGNG (-9.27%), AIICO (-8.00%), FBNH (-5.02%), ACCESSSCORP (-4.20%), and OANDO (-3.75%). Given the downtrend, the market breadth closed negative, recording 21 gainers and 32 losers.
However, the market sector performance was par, as two of the five major market sectors were down, including the banking index which lost -2.36%. The insurance industry saw a decline of -2.07%, whereas the consumer goods and industrial sectors saw increases of +0.16% and +0.01%, respectively.
The Oil & Gas sector closed flat. Overall, the equities market capitalisation of the Nigerian Exchange lost ₦190.44 billion to close at ₦58.91 trillion. #Equities Investors Lose N190bn as Market Sentiment Shifts Naira Devaluation Deepens Economic Crisis in Nigeria
