Investors on the equities market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited extended the previous day’s losses, due to sell pressure on high capitalised stock as investors lost N364 billion.
Our correspondent on Monday had reported that the equities market started the week’s trading negatively with investors’ investment dropping by N54billion amid renewed profit hunting activity.
Analysts at Cordros capital had expressed that the equities market closed down on Monday due to the losses recorded in the Industrial and Oil & Gas sectors.
On Tuesday, the overall market capitalisation value lost N364 billion to close at N19.725 trillion. Hence, the year-to-date (YTD) loss slipped to 6.02 percent.
Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 698.23 basis points, representing a decline of 1.81 percent to close at 37,847.07 basis points on Tuesday.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Industrial Goods (-1.1percent), Insurance (-0.4percent) and Banking (-0.1percent) indices declined, while the Oil & Gas (+0.1percent) index was the sole gainer. The Consumer Goods index was flat.
The market downturn was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Airtel Africa, Presco, BUA Cement, Stanbic IBTC Holdings and PZ Cussons Nigeria, pushing the equities market to a new year low.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said “In the next trading session, we anticipate a positive performance on the domestic bourse driven by bargain hunting activities.”
Investors sentiment, as measured by market breadth closed negative as 23 stocks declined, while 18 stocks gained. Fidson Healthcare recorded the highest price gain of 10 percent to close at N5.06, per share.
Vitafoam Nigeria followed with a gain 9.68 percent to close at N13.60 and Red Star Express rose by 9.55 percent to close at N3.67, per share.
Veritas Kapital Assurance appreciated by 9.09 per cent to close at 24 kobo, while Chams and Courteville Business Solutions gained 5 per cent each to close at 21 kobo each, per share.
On the other hand, Airtel Africa led the losers’ chart by 10 percent to close at N678.00, per share. Mutual Benefits Assurance followed with a decline of 7.32 percent to close at 38 kobo, while Cornerstone Insurance shed 7.27 percent to close at 51 kobo, per share.
Learn Africa shed 6.48 percent to close at N1.01, while Ikeja Hotel depreciated by 6.19 percent to close at 91 kobo, per share.
However, the total volume of trades increased by 4.33 percent to 218.271 million units, valued at N2.726 billion, and exchanged in 3,524 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) topped the activity chart with 42.442 million shares valued at N37.209 million. Vitafoam Nigeria followed with 20.131 million shares worth N271.571 million, while Dangote Sugar Refinery traded 17.634 million shares valued at N312.105 million.
FBN Holdings (FBNH) traded 12.392 million shares valued at N88.456 million, while Access Bank transacted 11.517 million shares worth N98.379 million.
According to analysts at Investment One research, “The equities market closed down today due to the losses recorded in the Industrial and Oil & Gas sectors.
“Going forward, we expect investor’s sentiments to be swayed by the search for real positive returns and developments in the interest rate space.
“We reiterate that this may be a great period to pick up some quality names with a medium to long-term investment horizon.”