Due to ongoing stock selloffs in big and mid-cap listed businesses, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) equity market capitalization continued to decline on Wednesday. With the projected increase in the currency rate and fuel prices, the bears continued to rule the market.
The most recent performance shown that the local stock exchange is losing ground despite the fixed income market’s lackluster performance; at the very least, a negative real return has remained and rates on government securities are still subject to changes in inflation.
The year-to-date performance, however, indicates that equity investors are completely safeguarded from Nigeria’s ongoing inflation; in fact, the current market performance is higher than the yearly inflation rate.
Following profit-taking activity on AIRTELAFRI, the telecom business valued approximately N5 trillion lost 5.3% as investors sold their shares, the local exchange yesterday registered its third straight loss this week.
Stockbrokers claimed that pressure from investors selling well-known stocks including AIRTELAFRI (5.30%), FIDELITYBK (-3.95%), FCMB (-2.81%), GTCO (-0.53%), ACCESSCORP (-0.59%), and 18 other stocks contributed to the loss.
The All-Share index therefore dropped 0.5% to 64,625.28 points. As a result, the profits for the month and year as a whole decreased to +0.5% and +26.1%, respectively.
The total volume traded increased by 4.0% to 291.71 million units, valued at N7.43 billion, and exchanged in 6,213 deals. GTCO was the most traded stock by volume at 41.75 million units, while AIRTELAFRI was the most traded stock by value at N1.82 billion.
Stockbrokers reported that performance across the sectors was mixed, as the Insurance (-2.8%) and Banking (-0.4%) indices declined, while the Consumer Goods (+2.4%) and Oil & Gas (+0.4%) indices advanced.
Meanwhile, the Industrial Goods index closed flat. As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.7x), as 16 tickers lost relative to 22 gainers. NEM (-10.0%) and SUNUASSUR (-8.5%) topped the losers’ list. ETERNA (+10.0%) and CWG (+8.6%) recorded the highest gains of the day. Overall, equities market cap declined by N164 billion to N35.2 trillion on Wednesday.
