After a late shift in market direction, the Nigerian Exchange, NGX, equities section fell Thursday on selloffs in a number of banking and insurance companies’ shares following three days of gains.
The drop came after a quarterly report showed that the Nigerian insurance business increased in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2022. Today’s sell-off was fueled by lower investment as investors considered Nigeria’s growing inflation and higher benchmark interest rate. As a result, the Nigerian Exchange’s major performance metrics deteriorated, while the local bourse’s year-to-date performance decreased.
According to data from the local bourse, market performance indices fell by -0.02%. Once the first quarter came to an end, the exchange’s year-to-date return fell to 7.17%. The Nigerian Exchange All-Share Index, in particular, fell by 12.03 basis points today, or -0.02%, to settle at 54,924.08 points.
Atlass Portfolios Ltd stockbrokers stated in a market brief that trading activity was uneven. Overall volume traded fell by -12.15%, while total value exchanged increased by +5.13% for the day.
According to a market report, around 117.85 million units worth $1,398.78 million were traded in 2,575 transactions. According to Atlass Portfolios stockbrokers, TRANSCORP was the most traded stock in terms of volume, accounting for 19.86% of total transaction activity.
To round out the top five on the volume list, FIDELITYBK (14.39%), FBNH (11.09%), ROYALEX (7.80%), and UBA (7.64%). MTN Nigeria (Ticker: MTNN) was the most traded stock in value terms, accounting for 26.47% of total transaction value on the local market.
SUNUASSUR led the advancers with a 9.09 percent price increase, followed by TRANSCOHOT (8.32%), ACADEMY (7.50%), REGALINS (7.14%), ABCTRANS (5.71%), and eight (8) others. Seventeen stocks fell in value, with NCR leading the pack with a -9.96% drop. According to trading statistics, LINKASSURE lost 8.70%, MANSARD lost 7.50%, ROYALEX lost 4.17%, and STERLNBANK lost 3.25%.
According to today’s trading pattern on the Lagos bourse, the market breadth finished negative, with 14 gainers and 17 losers. The NGX Banking, NGX Insurance, and NGX Consumer Goods indices all moderated by 0.45%, 0.42%, and 0.04%, respectively, indicating a negative trend.
In contrast, the NGX Oil/Gas and NGX Industrial indexes stayed unchanged from the previous trading day. Overall, the stock market capitalization fell 6.55 billion, or -0.02%, to end at 29,920.52 trillion, down from 29,927.07 trillion the previous day.
