Price depreciation in MTNN (-1.3%), GUARANTY (-2.1%) and FBNH (-6.1%) made investors to lose N109 billion as market capitalisation fell to N13.2 trillion at the close of trading on the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday. The benchmark index went southwards as the All Share Index (ASI) closed 82bps lower to settle at 27,083.11 points while year to date (YTD) loss worsened to -13.8%.
Activity level was mixed as volume traded rose 6.5% to 235.1m units while value traded declined 26.5% to N3.3bn. The top traded stocks by volume were GUARANTY (49.9m units), ZENITHBANK (34.7m units) and ACCESS (33.2m units) while the top traded stocks by value were GUARANTY (N1.3bn), ZENITHBANK (N563.7m) and DANGCEM (N347.8m). Performance across sectors was poor as only 1 out of 6 indices monitored ended the trading day in the positive territory.
The Industrial Goods index led losers, shedding 1.6% on the back of losses in CCNN (-5.4%) and WAPCO (-2.7%). Closely trailing were the Banking and Oil & Gas indices which plunged 1.3% and 1.1% respectively due to losses in GUARANTY (-2.1%) and FBNH (-6.1%) as well as TOTAL (-7.8%) and OANDO (-2.7%).
In the same vein, the AFRI-ICT index declined 0.8% due to sell pressures in MTNN (-1.3%). The Consumer Goods index also pared 46bps due to price depreciation in FLOURMILL (-8.5%) and DANGSUGAR (-3.5%). On the flip side, the Insurance index gained 0.5% following buying interest in CONTINSURE (+4.3%).
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth weakened to 0.1x from 0.7x recorded at the close of last week as four stocks gained against 27 stocks that lost. The top gainers today were CONTINSURE (+4.3%), CUSTODIAN (+3.3%) and AFRIPRUD (+1.4%) while the top losers were UACN (-10.0%), NPFMCRFBK (-9.3%) and FLOURMILL (-8.5%). Analysts at Afrinvest said: “We maintain a bearish outlook for the rest of the week in the absence of any major catalyst. However, we see opportunities for bargain hunting in stocks with sound fundamentals.”
