NSE: Equities lose N234b as selloff resumes

After staging modest bullish run in the last three trading days last week, Nigerian equities reopened on Monday to a renewed selloff as investors opened up more sell orders in frantic efforts to monetise accrued capital gains. With two decliners for every advancer, most transactions were closed at lower prices, forcing the market to a loss of N234 billion.

The All Share Index (ASI)-the common value-based benchmark index that tracks share prices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) declined by 1.53 per cent from its opening index of 42,638.83 points to close at 41,987.74 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also declined correspondingly from its opening value of N15.302 trillion to close at N15.068 trillion. This depressed the average year-to-date return to 9.79 per cent.

Sectoral indices showed that the bears and the bull nearly evenly divided the key sectors but the bears weighed more heavily on large-cap stocks. The NSE Consumer Goods Index dropped by 1.6 per cent. The NSE Industrial Goods Index declined by 1.5 per cent while the NSE Oil and Gas Index closed flat. On the positive side, the NSE Insurance Index rose by 0.74 per cent while the NSE Banking Index inched up by 0.01 per cent.

Read also: NSE LIVE! Equities continue rally with N155bn gain

There were 32 decliners against 16 advancers. Nestle Nigeria-Nigeria’s highest-priced stock, led the decliners with a loss of N58.20 to close at N1, 341.80. Dangote Cement-Nigeria’s most capitalised stock followed with a loss of N8.60 to close at N251.30. Nigerian Breweries-the third most capitalised quoted company, declined by N2.10 to close at N128.90. PZ Cussons Nigeria lost N2 to close at N23. Enamelware declined by N1.15 to close at N22.10. Zenith Bank dropped by 70 kobo to close at N31.30 per share while FBN Holdings dipped by 60 kobo to close at N11.70 per share.

On the positive side, International Breweries led the advancers with a gain of N1.25 to close at N59. Guaranty Trust Bank-Nigeria’s second most capitalised company followed with a gain of N1 to close at N47.50. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria added 35 kobo to close at N18.50. Fidson Healthcare rose by 22 kobo to close at N4.69. AXA Mansard Insurance chalked up 13 kobo to close at N2.78 while May & Baker Nigeria added 10 kobo to close at N2.95 per share.

The momentum of activities also slowed down considerably with 53.4 per cent and 71.1 per cent decline in volume and value of transactions. Total turnover stood at 287.1 million shares valued at N2.3 billion. Skye Bank was the most active stock with a turnover of 57.99 million shares valued at N63.21 million. Diamond Bank followed with a turnover of 40.33 million shares valued at N106.72 million while FCMB Group placed third with a turnover of 35.34 million shares valued at N89.42 million.

Most analysts expected the market to rebound on the back of corporate earnings and improving macroeconomic environment.

“Despite selloffs in today’s session, our theme on the equities market remains positive on the backdrop of encouraging macroeconomic fundamentals,” Cordros Capital stated.
Analysts at Afrinvest Securities noted that although market breadth is still negative, the advancement recorded on Monday was an indication of strengthening investor sentiment.

“Against this backdrop, we expect market to perform positively in subsequent sessions this week,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

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