NGX shrinks as equity investors lose N357bn

Equity investors lost N357 billion on Thursday as investors sold down interest in some listed companies on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) trading platform. As a result of the activities of sell-side actors, the NGX All-Share Index dropped by 39 basis points to close the day at 145,300.01 points—driving other key performance indicators southward. In their separate notes, stockbrokers said today’s negative outing was largely influenced by sell-side pressure on some mid- to high capitalised stocks. Hence, the year-to-date return moderated to 41.17%, still strongly ahead of the annual inflation rate. On the losers chart were Wema Bank, AXA Mansard Insurance, AIICO Insurance NGX Group, Custodian Insurance , Dangote Sugar, Cadbury Nigeria, NEM Insurance, and United Capital Plc. Other decliners include STERLINGNG, TRANSCORP, FCMB, OANDO, ZENITHBANK, and GTCO, among others.mA total of 50 stocks recorded losses, with the insurance sector leading the decline among the major sectors.
The market index shed 498.45 basis points to close at 145,367.03. However, market activities were up as the total volume and total value of all trades increased by +81.71% and +7.69% respectively.  Approximately 1,438.26 million units valued at ₦21,769.99 million were transacted across 43,164 deals, according to Atlass Portfolio Limited. In terms of volume, UNIVINSURE led the activity chart, accounting for 15.91% of the total volume of trades, followed by AIICO, LINKASSURE, MBENEFIT, and REGALINS, rounding out the top five. NB emerged as the most traded stock in value terms, accounting for 8.41% of the total value of trades on the exchange. JULI topped the advancers’ chart with a price appreciation of 10.00 percent, trailed by AUSTINLAZ, NCR, THOMASWY, CHAMS (+8.06%), RTBRISCOE, and sixteen others.
Fifty stocks depreciated, according to data from the Nigerian bourse.CILEASING, LASACO, SOVRENINS, UPDC, and WEMABANK were the top losers, with a price depreciation of -10.00% each. On the loser chart were MANSARD, AIICO, NGXGROUP, CUSTODIAN, DANGSUGAR, CADBURY, NEM, UCAP, STERLINGNG, TRANSCORP, FCMB, OANDO, ZENITHBANK (-0.76%), and GTCO (-0.51%). Today, the stock market breadth closed negative, recording 22 gainers and 50 losers. Sector performance was broadly negative, with losses recorded in the Banking (-0.48%), Insurance (-8.26%), Consumer Goods (-0.20%), and Oil & Gas (-0.11%) sectors. The Industrial Goods sector bucked the trend, rising by 0.11%, while the Commodity sector closed flat. Despite the bearish price trend, market activity strengthened significantly, as the number of deals, trading volume, and turnover value jumped by 41.52% to 43,515 deals, 83.01% to 2.46 billion units, and 9.90% to ₦22.22 billion, respectively. Overall, equity investors lost ₦357 billion in market value, with the total market capitalisation settling at ₦91.93 trillion.