NGX Crashes as Investors Sell Off Financial Stocks

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) equities section concluded the trading session down on Tuesday as investors sold banking stocks. According to stockbrokers, big lenders such as GTCO (-3.88%), UBA (-1.23%), and ACCESSCORP (-0.55%) saw their share prices fall further.

Similarly, the insurance index fell, with PRESTIGE (-7.32%), LINKASSURE (-6.82%), MANSARD (-4.76%), LASACO (-3.92%), and AIICO (-1.67%) leading the way. As a result, the All-Share Index fell 0.1% to 55,722.90 points.

Following the selloffs, the stock market’s year-to-date and month-to-date returns were -0.2% and +8.7%, respectively. Accordingly, the equity capitalization which began at N30.391 trillion, lost N36 billion to settle at N30.355 trillion, reflecting a fall of 0.12 per cent.

In addition, the All-Share Index (ASI) fell 65.47 points, or 0.12%, to settle at 55,722.9, down from 55,788.37 on Monday. Enamewa headed the gainers’ list, rising 9.57 percent from N16.20 to settle at N17.75 per share.

FTN Cocoa increased by 7.69% to close at 28k from 26k, while Sterling Bank increased by 3.42 percent from N1.46 to N1.51 per share. UAC Nigeria gained 3.26 percent to settle at N9.50 per share, up from N9.20 at the start of the day.

In addition, NGX Group climbed 2.69 percent from N26 to N26.70 per share. On the other hand, Chams lead the losers’ table after losing eight per cent, from 25k at which it opened to close at 23k, per share.

Prestige Assurance sank 7.32% to settle at 38k from 41k, while Linkage Assurance slid 6.82% to end trading at 41k from 44k per share. UPDC fell 6.8 percent, closing at 96k versus N1.03, while Wema Bank fell 6.05 percent, falling from N4.30 to N4.04 per share.

On Tuesday, investors exchanged 199.26 million shares worth N2.81 billion in 3,898 transactions, up from 179.02 million shares worth N2.54 billion sold in 4,296 transactions the day before.

Sterling Bank was the most trading stock, with 31.09 million shares amounting to N46.91 million. Neimeth sold 20.17 million shares worth N31.67 million, while Zenith Bank traded 16.51 million shares worth N412.51 million.

Sectoral performance was broadly negative, as the Insurance (-1.9%), Banking (-0.2%), and Industrial Goods (-0.1%) indices printed losses, while the Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas indices closed flat.