NGX Loses N150bn after 6-Week Gaining Streaks
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) equities segment lost weight following profit-taking activities on all trading sessions except for Friday last week. Overall, the local bourse lost more than N150 billion after six weeks of gaining streaks.
Alpha seekers continue to position to reduce inflation pressures on naira assets under management by cherry-picking growth, and value stocks across key market indices. The banking sector has seen a buying rally due to consistency in dividend payments, and some analysts feel the sector is undervalued.
The local exchange was down as a result of sell pressures on AIRTELAFRI (-5.3%) dragged the All-Share index 0.9% lower to 64,721.09 points. This dragged year-to-date performance lower, though still ahead of annual inflation rate readings.
Trading patterns showed that investors booked profit in high-priced and blue-chip stocks – largely. Data from the Exchange showed that market capitalisation fell by N150.14 billion last week to N35.42 trillion compared to the previous week’s N35.57 trillion.
The weight loss caused a drag on the year-to-date return of the All-Share Index (ASI). At the close of the week, year-to-date return moderated to 26.28%.
The market swung positive on Friday over buy-side interest seen in notable stocks such as TRANSCORP 3.74%, DANGCEM 2.89%, PZ 2.65%, ACCESSCORP 1.80%, FCMB 1.69%, FBNH 0.80%, MTNN 0.22%, and other listed equities.
The total trade value saw a substantial rise of 152.42%, reaching NGN 9.39 billion. Additionally, the trade volume also displayed an increase of 67.82%, with a cumulative total of 537.58 million units traded across 5,893 transactions.
The Consumer Goods and Industrial Goods sectors were notable gainers, posting week-on-week increases of 2.39% and 0.37% respectively. Key stocks like TRANSCORP, DANGSUGAR, CWG, CUTIX, and DANGCEM contributed to these gains.
Equally, the Insurance, Banking, and Oil & Gas sectors experienced declines of 2.17%, 2.06%, and 0.42% respectively. These sectors were impacted by cautious investor sentiment and sell-offs in select mid and high-cap stocks.
These stock experience selloffs ACCESSCORP, UNITYBNK, LASACO, and ETERNA, as investors meticulously evaluate the interplay of market and economic conditions. Trading activity remained subdued with low volumes and a bearish undertone, according to stockbrokers.
Data from the Nigerian Exchange showed that weekly deals decreased by 3.83% to 29,477 deals.
The average traded volume decreased by 2.98% to 1.69 billion units, while the weekly average value increased by 13.60% to N21.97 billion compared to the previous week’s N19.34 billion.
Amid the negative market breadth, certain stocks stood out. LINKASSURE (+18%), CORNERST (+10%), and WEMA (+8%) emerged as the top performers of the week, drawing the interest of astute investors. Stockbrokers said in their market updates that NEM (-10%), UNITYBNK (-10%), and ETERNA (-9%) faced declines due to unfavourable price movements. #NGX Loses N150bn after 6-Week Gaining Streaks
