Bears persists at NGX as equities investors lose N65bn

On Thursday, the Nigerian equities market extended its bearish trajectory, with the All-Share Index slipping by 12 basis points to close at 95,718.05 basis points.

Selloffs at Zenith Bank, Transcorp Hotel, and First Bank of Nigeria Holdings were the major drivers of the market’s weak performance, having dipped in share value by 0.26 per cent, 10.0 per cent, and 1.72 per cent, respectively.

Consequently, the market is on track for another weekly loss as the market capitalisation of listed equities dipped by 0.12 per cent, ending the session at N54.98 trillion, wiping out N65 billion from investors’ portfolios.

The year-to-date (YTD) return thus fell to 28.01 per cent.

Regarding individual stock movements, Academy Press, SFS Real Estate Investment Trust, Oando, R T Bris, and Industrial and Medical Gases emerged as the top gainers, each recording significant share price appreciations of 10.0 per cent. 10.0 per cent, 9.99 per cent, 9.78 per cent, and 9.09 per cent, respectively.

On the flip side, Transcorp Hotel, Chams Holding Company, Eterna, Ikeja Hotel, and Thomas Wyatt led the decliners’ chart, having depreciated in share value respectively by 10.00 per cent, 9.72 per cent, 9.55 per cent, 9.09 per cent, and 8.88 per cent.

Sectoral performance was largely negative, with the Banking, Consumer Goods, and Oil/Gas indices posting losses of 0.82 per cent, 0.11 per cent, and 0.46 per cent, respectively. Conversely, the insurance and industrial goods indices recorded gains of 0.44 per cent and 0.05 per cent, respectively.

Trading activity mirrored the bearish sentiment, as the total number of deals and the traded value declined by 6.47 per cent and 19.28 per cent, respectively, to 8,243 deals and N5.85 billion.

However, the total traded volume defied the trend, rising by 9.17 per cent to 393.62 million units.

As the session concluded, Universal Insurance stood out as the most actively traded stock by volume, with 68.19 million units exchanged in 95 deals, while Oando led in terms of traded value, totalling N1.29 billion.

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