Equity sheds N394bn as sell-off persist
Nigerian equities market on Wednesday closed Southward, declining by N394 billion, as losses recorded in the shares of Access Holding, Nigerian Breweries, Oando Plc, Zenith and others dragged the market down.
Market capitalisation of listed equities declined by 0.45 per cent to N87.416 trillion from N87.810 trillion reported the previous day.
The NGX All Share Index also depreciated by 621.30 basis points to 138159.25 points for 138780.55 points reported on Tuesday.
The downturn, which reflects a prevailing bearish sentiment, was largely driven by continued profit-taking, particularly the banking, Insurance, oil and gas like Oando, Fidelity, GTCO, UBA, Zenith Bank, Aradel AccessCorp, Nigerian Breweries, Cap Plc among others.
The volume of trades up by 78.223 million, representing 19.34 per cent as investors traded 482.760 million shares against 404.537 million, valued of transactions dropped N20.29 billion, indicating 50.77 per cent to settle at N19.672 billion in 28193 deals.
The day’s trading was led by a few key stocks, with NSLTech topping gainers table with 9.09 per cent to close at N0.96 per unit, Conhall Plc followed with a gain of 8.53 per cent to N4.20 per unit, JohnHolt added 7.94 per cent to close at N6.80 per unit, Cadbury Nigeria Plc gained 5.54 per cent to close at N58.00, Wema Bank increased by 5.31 per cent to close at N21.80 per unit.
On the contrary, Daar Communications, Legend Internet and Learn Africa topped losers’ chart, dropping 10 per cent each to close respectively at N0.90, N4.77 and N7.02 per share. Mansard insurance trailed with a loss of 9.95 per cent to close at N14.39 per share Universal insurance dipped by 9.60 per cent to close at N1.13 per unit.
Transactions on the shares of Access Holding Company led market activities with 43.033 million shares valued at N1.101 billion, Fidelity Bank followed with account of 40.128 million cost N843.768 million, GTCO Plc 34.846 million shares cost N3.187 billion, United Bank for Africa exchanged 33.429 million shares valued at N1.535 billion, AIICO Insurance executed 29.079 million shares worth N91.571 million.
Analysts expect the market to show resilience in the medium term, driven by positive corporate earnings from industrial, consumer goods, and ICT sectors.
The ongoing momentum from strong half-year results is likely to underpin investor confidence and could mitigate deeper losses.
