Nigeria: Equities Investors Lose N86bn as NGX Ends in Red

With weekend profit taking, the trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) ended on a negative note, losing about N86 billion on Friday’s close after a week long rally. Key indices slide as TOTAL, CONOIL, and GTCO were sold off by equities investors.

Hence, the NGX All-Share Index recorded a 26 basis point decline, closing at 59,206.63 points, down from the previous session’s 59,361.55 points. Stockbrokers at Futurview Financial Services Limited said this marked the first bearish closure of the week although bulls (36) outnumbered the bears (28).

The day’s downturn was driven by investors who opted to take profits on major stocks, including TOTAL (-0.21%), STANBIC (-4.07%), GTCO (-0.16%), NB (-0.23%), and CONOIL (-6.69%).

During the trading session, FIDSON, TRANSCOHOT, and NASCON exhibited substantial gains of 10.00% respectively. On the other hand, UNITYBNK, WAPIC, and MCNICHOLS experienced declines of -9.84%, -9.57%, and -9.46% respectively.

The selling activity exerted downward pressure on the market, resulting in the negative performance observed. Consequently, the equities market year-to-date return moderated to 15.52% after the previous speedy race toward inflation rate.

There was an uptick in market activity, with both volume and value traded experiencing increases. The volume of traded shares rose by 1.94% to reach 627.87 million units, while the value traded surged by 38.23% to reach N9.15 billion.

The market breadth improved as investor sentiment grew from 1.10x to 1.29x. This shift was driven by the upward movement of 36 stocks, the downward movement of 28 stocks, and 61 stocks closing at the same price as the previous session.

Sectorial performance was weak. Exactly four out of the five sub-sector closed in the red. The NGX Banking, NGX Insurance, NGX Oil/Gas, and NGX Industrial indices declined by 0.54%, 2.83%, 0.73%, and 0.02%, respectively.

On the flip side, the NGX Consumer Goods index advanced by 0.06%. Overall, equities market capitalisation decline 0.26%, settling at N32.24 trillion, causing investors’ wealth to decrease by N85.95 billion.