Nigerian Exchange Extends Losses as Investors Dump Stocks
After a week-long bearish trade, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) extends losses for the third day as investors dump stocks. The renewed sell-off comes after the ongoing yield repricing in the fixed income market.
Some conservative investors including Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) continued to adjust the portfolio, betting long position in the Nigerian debt market as yields on fixed-income securities rise.
Marking the 8th trading sessions straight, bearish sentiment has persisted on the local bourse, the All-Share Index plunged by 6 basis points to close at 38,233.68 points Wednesday.
Downward sloped in the stock market today occurred following price depreciation recorded in in ZENITH (-1.1%), FLOURMILL (-5.3%), and GUARANTY (-0.7%).
Consequently, year to date loss worsened to -5.1% while market capitalisation declined by ₦12.1 billion to settle at ₦19.928 trillion.
Trading activity was mixed as volume traded fell by 18.8% to 203.1 million units while value traded rose by 17.0% to ₦1.8 billion.
The most traded stocks by volume were FIDELITY (24.4 million units), ZENITH (22.1 million units), and MBENEFIT (16.9 million units) while ZENITH (₦508.0 million), GUARANTY (₦368.2 million), and UACN (₦131.4 million) led by value.
Mixed Sector Performance
Afrinvest said performance across sectors under its coverage was mixed as 2 indices lost, 1 gained, while 3 closed flat.
The Banking and Consumer Goods lost 0.4% and 8bps respectively, following sell-offs in ZENITH (-1.1%), GUARANTY (-0.7%), FLOUR MILL (-5.3%), and DANGSUGAR (-0.3%).
Conversely, the Insurance index emerged as the lone gainer, up by 1.2% due to price appreciation in LASACO (+9.1%) and MANSARD (+1.2%). However, the Oil & Gas, Industrial Goods, and AFRI-ICT indices closed flat.
Investor Sentiment Strengthens
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth strengthened to 1.4x from 0.6x in the last trading session as 20 stocks advanced while 14 declined.
JOHNHOLT (+9.6%), VITAFOAM (+9.2%) and LASACO (+9.1%) led gainers while FTNCOCOA (-7.3%), NPFMCRFBK (-5.6%) and FLOURMILL (-5.3%) led decliners.
“We expect the market to remain bearish in the next trading session due to the absence of a positive catalyst”, Afrinvest said.
NGX Extends Losses as Investors Dump Stocks
