Market News

By Helen Oji

The bears maintained dominance on the equities sector of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) yesterday, as investors Wealth declined further by N289 billion , amid losses in 43 stocks.

At the close of transactions yesterday on the floor of Nigerian Exchange (NGX), market capitalisation of listed equities depreciated by 0.43 per cent to N66.653 trillion from N66.942 trillion reported the previous day.

Similarly, the all-share index also declined by 467.77 basis points to 106437.48 from 106904.25 points reported on Tuesday.

Yesterday’s downturn was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are Transcorp, Eterna, Okomu oil, African Prudential, Nigerian Breweries, Dangote sugar, NGX Group and Wema Bank

On what will shape the market in the next trading session, analysts at Vetiva Dealings and Brokerage said: “Investors continue to weigh the impact of declining yields in the fixed-income market, which keeps sentiment cautious in equities.

“We anticipate another choppy session, with bargain hunters stepping in selectively.”

Afrinvest said: “Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, worsened to -0.45x from -0.40x in the prior session as 12 stocks advanced, 43 declined.

“Today, we expect bearish performance to linger as the market continues to lack positive catalysts to drive a reversal.”

A review of the trading during the day showed that Tantalizer led gainers chart, adding 9.64 per cent to close at N2.16 kobo, Uhomreit followed with a gain of 8.84 per cent to close at N52.95 kobo. Champion Breweries added 7.69 per cent to close at N4.20 kobo, CWG gained 5.70 per cent to close at N8.35 kobo. Deap Capital also grew by 5.56 per cent to close at 95 kobo.

On the contrary, Caverton Business Solutions topped losers chart, dropping by 10 per cent to close at N2.52 kobo. Conhall Plc trailed with a loss of 9.87 per cent to close at N3.56 kobo. Eterna Plc fell by 9.66 per cent to close at N34.15 kobo. FTNCocoa dipped by 9.52 per cent to close at N1.54 kobo. Linkage Assurance down by 9.09 per cent to close at N1.20 kobo.

Volume of trades declined by 4.108 million representing 1.04 per cent as investors traded 399.574 million shares valued at N11.309 billion in 11423 deals against 395.466 million shares worth N8.763 billion in 13967 deals.

Transaction in the shares of Fidelity Bank led market activities with 47.924 million shares valued at N803.467 million, AccessCorp followed with account of 35.602 million shares cost N853.881 million.

United Bank for Africa exchanged 29.052 million shares cost N1.019 billion, Jaiz Bank traded 27.019 million shares cost N89.723 million, Zenith Bank sold a total of 21.648 million shares valued at N1.021 billion.