More sell-offs hit equities market as investors lose N126bn in 2 days

By Chukwuma Umeorah

Following continuous sell-offs of stocks on the Nigeria’s stock market, investors have lost N126 billion in two consecutive trading sessions.

The market as at last week had closed in the positive territory with its capitalisation gaining N1.67 trillion. However, analysts who spoke to Daily Sun on the development forecasted the bearish sentiments booking profits across most counters this week.

Monday’s session saw the Lagos bourse halting its six-day winning streak as the All-Share Index (ASI) lost 0.25 per cent to settle at 47,436.45 points while market capitalization fell by N64 billion owing to losses recorded in BUA Cement, AccessCorp and International Breweries.

At the close of trading yesterday, further sell-offs in Nigerian Breweries, Stanbic and Neimeth pushed the index 0.2 per cent lower, settling at 47,322.97 points. Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderated to +8.0 per cent and +11 per cent, respectively.

Also, market capitalisation closed at N25.775 trillion, an indication that investors’ wealth fell by N126 billion in two days.

Across major counters, the Banking (-2.1 per cent) and Consumer Goods (-1.0 per cent) indices declined, while the Insurance (+0.1 per cent) and Industrial Goods (+0.1 per cent) indices recorded gains. The Oil & Gas index closed flat.

The total volume traded declined by 56.7 per cent to 120.95 million units, valued at NGN1.65 billion, and exchanged in 3,022 deals. 

Transcorp was the most traded stock by volume at 34.59 million units, while MTNN was the most traded stock by value at N354.28 million.

 As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.9x) as 14 tickers lost relative to 13 gainers. Neimeth (-8.0 per cent) and NB (-7.7 per cent) topped the losers’ list, while CHAMS (+9.1 per cent) and WAPIC (+6.1 per cent) recorded the highest gains of the day.