While bears continued their dominance, trading activity on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) in the equities section began negatively, with local investors losing N76 billion. The market dropped after finishing the previous week in the red.
Until its subsequent downturn in market performance, the Nigerian bourse had reached the N30 trillion barrier in the first quarter. After a solid earnings season with buckets of dividend declarations by NGX dividend aristocrats, the benchmark index traded at pre-financial crisis levels.
On Monday, main indexes on the local exchange declined as a result of the Insurance Index’s lightweight rise, which failed to reverse negative performance. While investors recorded profits across key tickers, the industrials index stayed unchanged.
The banking index’s negative shift announced on Monday prevents the NGX from continuing on its upward track. According to local bourse data, the All-Share index fell 0.1% to 54.184.34 points.
Equities market capitalization fell N76 billion or 0.09 percent to N29.517 trillion, down from N29.543 trillion during the previous trading session. In addition, the benchmark All-Share Index fell 48 points, or 0.09 percent, to settle at 54,184.34, down from N54.323.34 on Friday.
Losses in medium and large capitalised equities, including Tier-1 banks, such as Zenith Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank Holding Company (GTCO), and First Bank Nigeria Holdings, exacerbated the slump.
As a result, the year-to-date return increased to 5.72 percent. Market breadth was negative at the closing, with 23 stocks on the losers’ chart and 17 on the gainers’. A breakdown of price movement revealed that Lasaco Assurance and AXA Mansard Insurance were the largest gainers, each gaining 10% to close at N1.21 and N2.09 per share, respectively.
Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) trailed with a 9.88% rise to settle at N8.90, while Ikeja Hotels gained 8.20% to close at N1.32 a share. FTN Cocoa Processors rose 5.75 percent to settle at 28k per share. Scoa Nigeria, on the other hand, lead the losers’ table, falling 10% to settle at 90k per share.
UACN of Nigeria followed with a loss of 9.95 per cent to close at N8.60, while Sunu Assurances declined by 9.62 per cent to close at 47k, per share. Eterna Oil decreased by 9.56 per cent to close at N6.15, while Custodian fell by 8.87 per cent to close at N5.65, per share.
Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the volume of transactions down by 48 per cent. A total of 292.56 million shares valued at N2.38 billion were exchanged in 4,408 deals. Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Oil & Gas (-0.3%), Consumer Goods (-0.3%), and Banking (-0.3%) indices settled lower, while the Industrial Goods index closed flat.
The Insurance (+0.3%) index was the sole gainer for the day. As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.8x), as 22 tickers lost relative to 17 gainers. Oando Gains 34% as Investors Target Acquisition Price. SCOA (-10.0%) and UACN (-10.0%) recorded the most significant losses of the day, while MANSARD (+10.0%) and LASACO (+10.0%) topped the gainer’s list.
