Categories: Business

NGX: Equities market hits 4-months low as investors further lose N426bn

Equities trading at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) extends its losing streak for the fifth successive session to settle the All Share Index (ASI) at 48,567.14 basis points, the lowest point since 25 April.

On Tuesday, bears maintain a grip on the local bourse largely occasioned by the negative outing of such high capitalized stocks as Dangote Cement, Seplat Energies, BUA Cement and BUA Foods.

This outing pegged both the month-to-date and year-to-date performance at -3.58 per cent and 13.70 per cent from their previous close of -2.03 per cent and 15.52 per cent respectively.

Investors, therefore lose N426 billion as market capitalization followed suit the direction of the ASI to stand at N26.189 trillion, representing a 1.60 per cent decrease from the N26.615 trillion it stood at the end of the previous trading session.

Bears’ camp maintained dominance over the market breadth with 20 counters in the losers’ chart pitted against nine counters in the gainer’s chart.

FTN Cocoa gained 10.00 per cent to become the best performing stock in the session, flanked by NEM Insurance, Honeywell Flour Mills, University Press and Mutual Benefits as the top five gainers of the day.

From the rear of the chart, BUA Foods, NNFlour Mills, Seplat Energies and NAHCO populated the top five losers’ charts.

Key sectoral indices closed in the same direction as the ASI, save for the NGX Insurance sector which gained 0.1.82 per cent in the session, while NGX Growth and NGX ASEM sectors closed flat.

Market activity as measured by both volume and value of trades gained weight in the session with daily traded volume standing at 204.153 million units, representing a 66.34 per cent uptick from a volume of 122.736 million units traded in the previous session.

Value of those traded stocks spiked by 144.64 per cent in the session to stand at N3.183 billion as against a value of N1.301 billion recorded in the previous trading session.

The financial services sector dominated the volume charts with Mutual Benefits as the top traded stock by volume for the trading session. This is followed by Zenith Bank, FBN Holdings, Access Corporation and United Bank for Africa to complete the list of the five most traded stocks by volume.

With regards to the value of traded stocks, Dangote Cement took the lead among the top five performers. It is flanked by Zenith Bank, MTN Nigeria, FBN Holdings, and Seplat Energies.

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