Selloffs in Banking Stocks Drag Nigerian Exchange Lower

Selloffs in Banking Stocks Drag Nigerian Exchange Lower

Selloffs in banking stocks dragged the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) lower again by N11 billion as key indicators closed in the red. A number of equities investors trade exit on Access and united Bank while Vitafoam was also dumped.

The declined market indicators were impacted by price depreciation in Banking and Consumer Goods, according to data from the local bourse.

As a result, the All-Share Index dipped 21.16 basis points, representing a 0.05 per cent decrease to close at 38,852.69 points. Similarly, the stock market capitalization sees a slowdown of ₦11.02 billion to close at ₦20.24 trillion.

Also, the market activities traded bearishly, as both the total volume and value traded shed 15.54 per cent and 35.55 per cent, respectively. A total of 155.77 million units of shares valued at ₦1.51 billion were traded in 3,256 deals.

UNIVINSURE outdid the traded stocks in terms of volume, accounting for 12.22 per cent of the total volume of trades, followed by UBA (12.06%), ZENITH BANK (7.55%), GTCO (6.43%), and UCAP (5.47%) to complete the top five on the volume chart.

GTCO remained the most traded stock in value terms, with 17.96 per cent of the total value of trades on the exchange. Meanwhile, TRANSCOHOT led the advancers table with price appreciation of 10.00 per cent, followed closely by PHARMDEKO (9.88%), WEMABANK (1.32%), AIICO (1.03%), ETI (0.95%), FIDELITYBK (0.42%), WAPCO (0.22%), and 6 others.

In contrast, VERITASKAP topped the decliners chart as its share price dipped by 8.70 per cent to close at ₦0.21, as UCAP (-5.00%), ACCESS (-3.37%), VITAFOAM (-1.96%), UBN (-1.00%), UBA (-0.65%), ZENITHBANK (-0.22%) and GTCO (-0.18%) amongst others also declined in price.

The market breadth closed negatively, recording 13 gainers and 17 losers. Afrinvest said in its market report that performance was mixed across the sectors that under its coverage as 3 indices gained, 2 lost, while the AFR-ICT index remained flat.

Leading the gainers, the Insurance index advanced 1.2% on the back of price appreciation in NEM (+5.3%) and AIICO (+1.0%). Similarly, the Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods indices rose 0.5% and 1bp respectively due to buying interest in CONOIL (+9.8%) and WAPCO (+0.2%).

Conversely, the Banking and Consumer Goods indices were the losers, down 83bps and 2bps respectively as investors sold off stakes in ACCESS (-3.4%), UBA (-0.6%), and VITAFOAM (-2.0%).

“In the next trading session, we do not anticipate a reversal of the bearish performance as the market remains short of positive catalyst”, analysts stated.

Selloffs in Banking Stocks Drag Nigerian Exchange Lower