Equities market falls to 3-months low, as investors further lose N281bn

Negative sentiments persist at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) as the All-Share Index (ASI) fell below the 50,000 psychological mark, to hit the lowest in three months.

On Thursday, selloffs in Nestle Nigeria, Zenith Bank and Stanbic IBTC dragged the overall market’s performance, placing it on track for a third weekly loss in four weeks.

Thus the NGX ASI slumped by 1.04 per cent to settle at 49,667.14 basis points t the end of trading activities the day.

Consequently, Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date return moderated to -4.2 per cent and +16.3 per cent, respectively.

Investors, therefore, further lost N281.2 billion as the market capitalisation depleted to N26.78 trillion by the end of trading activities n Thursday.

Notably, investors sold off part of their holdings in blue-chip companies like Stanbic IBTC, Nestle Nigeria, Zenith Bank, Wapco, FlourMills of Nigeria and Guaranty Trust Holding Company, hence their respective share prices declined by 9.98 per cent, 9.84 per cent, 8.25 per cent, 6.61 per cent, 4.69 per cent and 3.57 per cent.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative as 26 tickers lost relative to 10 gainers. On the performance board, LASACO Insurance and Stanbic IBTC recorded the significant losses of the day having depreciated by ten per cent respectively,, while UPDCreit and RTBriscoe topped the gainers’ list after their respective share prices appreciated by 9.2 per cent and 8.6 per cent.

Analysing by sectors, the Consumer Goods, Banking, Insurance and Industrial Goods indices mirrored the general market sentiment having declined by 3.8 per cent, 3.5 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively; while the Oil & Gas index was the sole gainer of the day with 0.6 per cent appreciation recorded to gain the sector.

Also, market activities for the day under review were unimpressive as analysis showed that trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions decreasing by 4.49 per cent.

A total of 206.22 million shares valued at N3.9 billion were exchanged in 5,053 deals. Transcorp led the volume chart with 38.53 million units traded, while MTN Nigeria led the value chart with deals worth N2.03 billion.

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• Equities market falls to 3-months low, as investors further lose N281bn