Stock market cap declines ₦2bn as investors’ sentiment fade

NSE Depreciates ₦62.6bn as Large Cap Stocks Dominate Losers Chart

Bear returns pulled back the Nigerian Stock Exchange key indicators as profit taking reversed yesterday’s rally.

Today, trading in the domestic equities market closed south due to price depreciation in BUACEMENT (-3.9%), UACN (-9.1%) and ZENITH (-1.2%).

The All-Share Index dropped by 47 basis points (bps) to close at 25,215.04 points.

As a result, market capitalisation fell ₦62.6 billion to settle at ₦13.2 trillion. Then, year to date loss worsened to -6.1%. NSE Depreciates

Activity level was mixed as volume traded decreased 0.8% to 266.6 million units while value traded spiked 183.9% to ₦3.2 billion.

The most active stocks by volume were GUARANTY (69.4 million units), MBENEFIT (51.8 million units) and FBNH (31.2 million units).

On the value chart, GUARANTY led the pack with ₦1.7 billion, ZENITH ₦274.5 million and DANGCEM did ₦235.5 million.

Sector performance was bearish as 3 of 6 indices under analysts at Afrinvest coverage declined.

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The Industrial and Consumer Goods indices led the laggards.

It shed 2.5% and 0.3% respectively due to profit-taking in BUACEMENT (-3.9%) and DANGSUGAR (-1.0%).

However, the Banking index trailed, losing 0.1% following price declines in ZENITH (-1.8%) and STANBIC (-0.6%).

Conversely, the Insurance and Oil & Gas indices appreciated 1.4% and 0.2% respectively, due to gains in CORNERSTONE (+8.0%), CHIPLC (+6.5%) and OANDO (+1.8%).

Meanwhile, the AFR-ICT index closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth expanded to 1.0x from the 0.6x recorded in the previous session as 19 stocks advanced against 19 decliners.

The best performing stocks were PRESTIGE (+10.0%), BERGER (+10.0%) and NEIMETH (+9.9%) while CILEASING (-10.0%), UACN (-9.1%) and JAPAULOIL (-8.0%) lost the most.

“We expect profit taking activities to drag the performance of the equities market for the rest of the week”, Afrinvest stated.

NSE Depreciates ₦62.6bn as Large Cap Stocks Dominate Losers Chart