Equities market plunges, investors suffer N97.58bn loss as week closes
By Philemon Adedeji
The Nigerian stock exchange concluded the week with a downward trend, as market bears continued to exert control, resulting in a 29 basis points decrease for the NGX All-Share Index (NGXASI).
The index closed the week at 62,569.73 Index points, compared to its previous session close of 62,748.94 Index points.
The market’s downturn was primarily attributed to persistent profit-taking activities across a wide spectrum of 57 stocks.
Within this context, the banking sector emerged as the unfortunate frontrunner, witnessing notable declines in prominent stocks such as WEMA BANK (-10 per cent), First Bank Holdins (FBNH) (-9.46 per cent), ACCESS CORPORATION (-4.47 per cent), ZENITH BANK (-3.42 per cent), and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) (-0.88 per cent), as they experienced a dip in their market prices.
As a result, the Year to Date (YTD) return saw a decline to 22.08 per cent, and the overall market capitalisation experienced a 0.29 per cent decrease, closing at N34,069.84 billion. This led to a reduction in investors’ wealth by N97.58 billion.
Market activity for the day decreased as both volume and value traded dipped by 24.80 per cent and 15.52 per cent to 600.49 million units and N8.83 billion, respectively.
Market breadth which measures investor sentiment, decreased to 0.23x from 0.33x in the prior session as 13 stocks appreciated, while 57 stocks depreciated while 48 stocks closed flat.
On the price movement table, Nascon Allied emerged as the highest price gainer which rose by 10.00 per cent increase to close at N28.05 per share, closely followed by Johnholt which appreciated by 9.70 per cent to close at N1.81 per share, while Skyway Aviation grew by 9.67 per cent to close at N14.75 per share.
TIP which recorded as the last fourth gainer went up by 8.93 per cent to close at N0.61 per share, while Guinea Insurance which recorded as the last fifth gainer rose by 8.00 per cent to close at N0.27 per share.
On the price losers table, five stocks which are Mcnichols, Wema Bank, Regalins Insurance, UACN, and Flour Mills depreciated by 10.00 each to close at N0.63, N4.05, N0.36, N9.00, N30.60 per share respectively.
Transaction in the shares of Access Corporation topped the activities chart with 94.164 million shares valued at N1.429 billion, United Bank for Africa which followed traded 54.118 million shares worth N669.333 million, while Fidelity Bank transacted 48.692 million shares worth N318.857 million.
Zenith Bank sold 36.420 million shares valued at N1.141 billion, while Transnational Corporation traded 33.609 million shares valued at N116.733 million.
