Stock Market Bumps over Subdued Investors’ Appetite
The Nigerian Stock market bumps further on Wednesday as equities investors’ appetite was stifled ahead of the second quarter earnings release. Investors lost more than N90 billion midweek after two days of holidays in the week.
Companies are expected to release their second quarter and/or first half year unaudited financial statement on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) portals as part of the listing requirement from July, 45 days after June, 30.
Market data shows that trading in the local bourse carried on last week’s bearish performances as the All Share Index declined by 0.3% to close at 51,390.25 points. The slowdown resulted in moderation in month-to-date and year-to-date returns, which printed at -0.8% and +20.3%, respectively.
Due to the selling rallies, stock market sentiment was negative following price depreciation in 23 companies’ shares while 11 stocks recorded gains. BUA Cement, and Access Bank Plc among others saw their share prices decline.
The top losers chart places MULTIVERSE whose share price dropped off 10.0% on the top, followed by REDSTAREX with 9.8% price depreciation. FCMB lost 5.31%, JAPAULGOLD fell 3.70%, ACCESSCORP pullback 2.11%, TRANSCORP shed 0.81% and UBA fell 0.66%.
ETERNA share price was dragged lower by 0.29%, NGXGROUP nosedived by 0.23% and OANDO share was priced down by 0.18%. On the gainers’ list, CWG share price jumped 10.0%, the maximum allowed price movement in the local bourse, followed closely by a 9.8% gain in CAVERTON while ACADEMY jumped by 9.52%.
Other gainers were INBREW whose share gained 7.41%, ZENITH BANK inched upward by 2.05%, NEIMETH spiked 1.84%, and FBNH rose 0.94% while UCAP advances by 0.40%. The overall performance saw the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) market capitalisation decline by ₦90.14 billion to close at ₦27.71 trillion.
Meanwhile, the market activities were bullish, as the total volume and value rose by 72.69 per cent and 22.64 per cent, respectively, according to Atlass Portfolios Limited. Citing data from the local bourse, Stockbrokers at the firm said in a market report that about 198.82 million units valued at ₦2.18 billion were transacted in 4,769 deals.
GTCO emerged as the most traded stock in terms of volume, accounting for 26.10 per cent of the total volume of trades. The financial service company was followed closely by JAPAULGOLD (11.02%), UBA (9.88%), JAIZBANK (6.31%), and INTBREW (4.56%) to complete the top five on the volume chart, Atlass Portfolios said in its market report.
Also, GTCO emerged as the most traded stock in value terms, with 48.66 per cent of the total value of trades on the exchange. Stockbrokers stated that sectoral performance was bearish as three of the five sectors closed negatively compared to the previous session. READ: Vetiva says Unilever Nigeria Road to Redemption has Many Bumps
The sectoral performance was led by the Insurance index which slow down by 2.96%, a moderate decline of 0.04% in the Oil & Gas index and a 0.01% drop emanated from the Industrial Goods index. However, the Consumer Goods and Banking sectors grew by 0.31% and 0.05%, respectively. Stock Market Bumps over Subdued Investors’ Appetite
