Nigerian Exchange Shrinks as Equities Investors Lose N556bn
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) declined on Wednesday, with market capitalisation falling by about N556 billion amid sustained selling pressure on the local bourse.
Reflecting a weak appetite for risk assets, the Nigerian stock market extended its bearish trend, with key market performance indicators falling by another 0.36%.
Profit-taking in large- and mid-cap stocks kept equity market performance underwhelming, as investors shift attention to elevated yields in the fixed-income market.
The All-Share Index fell by -860.76 basis points in today’s trading session, indicating a 0.36% decline to close at 240,750.47. Also, market capitalisation declined by ₦555.68 billion, closing at ₦155.42 trillion as the oil & gas sector drove losses, shedding 4.63%,
Total volume of all trades and the total value traded increased by +177.65% and +37.62%, respectively, stockbrokers reported. In a note, Atlass Portfolio Limited told investors that approximately 1,193.45 million units valued at ₦37,818.25 million were transacted across 34,546 deals.
FTGINSURE topped the volume chart, accounting for 51.52% of all units executed in the local bourse, followed by FCMB (5.13%), FIDELITYBK (4.81%), CONHALLPLC (3.91%), and ROYALEX with 3.67%.
SEPLAT accounted for 19.26% of the total value of all transactions, making it the most actively traded on the exchange. HMCALL led the gainers chart, up by +10.00%, then trailed by WAPIC (+8.44%), UACN (+6.56%), AVACAP (+6.29%), CAVERTON (+5.32%), OMATEK (+3.29%), and twenty-one others.
A total of twenty-seven stocks depreciated. With a price depreciation of -10.00%, INTENEGINS topped the worst performers’ chart, followed closely by ARADEL (-9.99%), UNIVINSURE (-9.41%), REDSTAREX (-9.26%), ROYALEX (-8.62%), and THOMASWY (-8.33%).
Hence, market breadth closed flat, with 27 gainers and 27 losers. Sectoral performance was negative today, with three of the five major market sectors declining.
The Oil & Gas sector led the decline by -4.63%, followed by the Insurance sector (-0.88%), and the Consumer goods sector (-0.31%). The Banking sector and the Industrial goods sector increased by +0.54% and +0.0002%, respectively.
