Stocks Plunge N301 billion as NGX Extends Loss-Making Streaks
Listed stocks plunge by a whopping sum of N301 billion Wednesday as the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) extends loss-making streaks, resulting in a N449 billion loss in two days.
Nigerian Exchange hits year to date low amidst the ongoing bearish trade in the fixed income segment. In the segment, duration apathy has persisted while some investors await the monetary policy committee decision next week to help their investing decision.
Today, the local bourse extended the previous sessions’ negative performance as the All-Share Index fell by 148 basis points to close at 38,446.09 points due to sell-offs in AIRTELAF (-10.0%), DANGCEM (-0.5%), and ZENITH (-2.1%).
Consequently, the stock market year-to-date loss worsened to -4.5% as market capitalisation declined by ₦301.0 billion to ₦20.0 trillion. Trading activity was mixed as volume traded declined by 24.9% to 153.6m units while value traded increased by 32.9% to ₦2.4 billion.
The most traded stocks by volume were UACN (10.0 million units), ZENITH (9.6 million units), and FIDELITY (8.7 million units) while SEPLAT (₦1.1 billion), ZENITH (₦222.8 million), and WAPCO (₦111.8 million) led by value.
Bearish Sector Performance
Afrinvest said performance was bearish across sectors under the firm’s coverage universe, as 4 indicators lost while 2 gained amidst market rout.
The AFR-ICT index led the laggards, down 5.2% due to sell pressure on AIRTELAF (-10.0%).
In the same vein, the Banking and Insurance indices fell by 0.6% apiece on the back of price depreciation in ZENITH (-2.1%), GUARANTY (-0.5%), CUSTODIAN (-2.5%), and AIICO (-3.1%).
Similarly, the Consumer Goods index also lost, down 32bps following sell-offs in DANGSUGAR (-3.9%), and INTBREW (-0.9%).
Alternatively, the Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods indices rose by 7.1% and 0.9% respectively as a result of buying interest in SEPLAT (+10.0%), MRS (+10.0%), and DANGCEM (+0.5%).
Investor Sentiment Improves
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth strengthened to 0.9x from the 0.7x recorded in the previous trading session as 23 stocks advanced while 25 declined. SEPLAT (+10.0%), MRS (+10.0%), and STERLNBANK (+9.7%) led gainers while AIRTELAF (-10.0%), CILEASING (-10.0%), and BOCGAS (-10.0%) led decliners.
“In the coming trading session, we expect the local bourse to extend the bearish performance”, Afrinvest said in a market report.
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Stocks Plunge N301 billion as NGX Extends Loss-Making Streaks
