Nigerian Exchange Loses N38bn as Investors Book Profit
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) equities market capitalisation shrank by about N38 billion as investors offload more stocks as sentiment plunged. The local bourse extended its losing streak as the All-Share Index declined by 0.06% to 105,426.12 points, bringing the year-to-date return to 2.43%.
Selloffs in lending tickers – ZENITHBANK (-2.25%), ACCESSCORP (-2.22%) and FIRSTHOLDCO (-2.44%) drove today’s decline. The decline in ZENITHBANK occurred despite the release of its landmark FY’24 earnings, where its profit after tax crossed the N1.0 trillion mark. In addition, the bank’s management announced a final dividend of N4.00.
Expectedly, market breadth printed negative at 0.79x, as 28 laggards outnumbered the 22 gainers. TIP (+9.85%) topped the gainers’ chart, while JOHNHOLT (-10.00%) led the laggards. Trade metrics declined as well, with volume and value traded declining 92.65% and 97.32% to settle at 423.6 million units and N9.2 billion traded, respectively.
ACCESSCORP led the volume chart with 65.0 million units traded (15.34% of total volume), while ZENITHBANK led the value charts with N2.0 billion (21.48% of total value).
TIP (+9.65%), MBENEFIT (+9.09%), UNIVINSURE (+9.09%), ROYALEX (+8.99%), and LEARNAFRICA (+8.14%). Meanwhile, JOHNHOLT (-10.00%), CHAMS (-8.52%), NSLTECH (-8.47%), MAYBAKER (-7.95%), and UPDC (-6.90%) led the laggards.
Trading activity was subdued, with total transaction volume and value plunging by 92.65% and 97.32%, respectively. The number of deals declined by 11.39%, with 11,393 transactions recorded, amounting to N9.18 billion in value and 432.62 million units traded. Sectoral performances mirrored the overall market bearish sentiment.
Notably, the Banking (-0.96%), Oil and Gas (-0.35%) and Consumer Goods (-0.20%) indices closed lower, following selloffs in ZENITHBANK (-2.25%), OANDO (-3.80%) and INTBREW (-1.92%), respectively.
Conversely, the Insurance (+0.09%) and Industrial Goods (+0.01%) indices benefited from price gains in SUNUASSUR (+3.17%) and CUTIX (+5.06%). The Commodity Index was unchanged.
Overall, market capitalisation fell by 0.06% to N66.11 trillion, reflecting a N37.5 billion loss in equities by the session’s close. #Nigerian Exchange Loses N38bn as Investors Book Profit US Dollar Rises Ahead of FOMC Announcement
