Nigerian Stock Market Drops as Investors Take Profit
Equities investors took profit from the unprecedented market rally that occurred on Thursday leading to decline in the Nigerian stock market size after sustained bullish run in the week
This move, according to analysts at Chapel Hill Denham is understandable since the market had cumulatively returned 14.25% in the last five straight sessions leading to today.
Notably, the NSE All-Share Index dipped by 86 basis points to 35,037.46 points, the sharpest single-day loss since October 7, 2020, when the benchmark index declined by 95bps.
Intraday, the benchmark index had dipped by as much as 3.0%, raising the fear of a possibility of another circuit breaker trigger.
However, the loss quickly moderated owing to investors’ interest in AIRTELAFRI that gained +9.99% and BUACEMEN share price that appreciated +1.66%.
Chapel Hill Denham noted that these were not enough to keep the market afloat, due to the overwhelming impact of the sell-off on MTNN (-4.32%) and most tier-1 banking stocks.
“We like that the NSE All-Share Index rose significantly by 12.97% from a week ago”, analysts stated.
At the close of trading on Friday, year-to-date return moderated slightly to 30.53%, while the market capitalisation similarly declined mildly to N18.308 trillion.
The combination of Japaul Oil & Maritime Services Plc (+10.00% to N0.33), BOC Gases Plc (+10.00% to N4.84), and NCR Nigeria Plc (+10.00% to N1.98) were the top gainers.
Meanwhile, AIICO Insurance Plc (-10.00% to N0.90), FCMB Group Plc (-10.00% to N3.42), and University Press Plc (-10.00% to N1.26) were today’s top losers.
Today’s performance was generally mixed, albeit with a bearish bias, with 2 of 5 of Chapel Hill Denham’s coverage indices closing in the green.
Specifically, the NSE banking, NSE insurance, and NSE oil & gas indices closed negative, driven mostly by GUARANTY (-4.71%), AIICO (-10.00%), and ARDOVA (-9.76%).
The foregoing largely offset gains across the NSE industrial goods (+0.63%) and NSE consumer goods (+0.07%) indices, respectively.
The market’s activity remains broadly strong, with volume traded only rising by 4.27% to 1,244mn units, valued at N16.287bn.
Most traded stocks by volume were Transnational Corp of Nigeria Plc (191.73mn units), Zenith Bank Plc (163.52mn units), and Access Bank Plc (104.16mn units).
On the other hand, the top traded stocks by value are Zenith Bank Plc (N4.482bn), Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (N2.059bn), and Dangote Cement Plc (1.705bn).
Elsewhere, the Chapel Hill Denham’s Paramount Equity Fund (PEF) and the Women Investment Fund (WIF) both declined by 2.54% and 1.85%, respectively.
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Nigerian Stock Market Drops as Investors Take Profit
