Stocks Tumble N34.3 Billion as Investors Book ProfitsStocks Tumble N34.3 Billion as Investors Book Profits
Nigerian stocks bloodbath spills to the new week as investors lost N34.3 billion amidst sustained profit-taking activities. The local bourse benchmark index sustained last Friday’s decline to edge downward by 0.19%, with the benchmark index closing at 37,585.25 points.Sustained profit-taking activities at the local bourse has widened market year to date loss while market capitalisation has dropped below N20 trillion as retail investors moved from the market.However, market breadth turned negative with 13 gainers compared to 19 losers. Today market activities ended with total volume of shares traded declining by 22.19 percent while total value of trades increased by 40.15 percent. A total of 157.73 million units of shares valued at N3.37 billion, were traded in 3,562 deals.NGX
Meanwhile, FBNH led the volume chart accounting for 11.11 percent, as UBA (7.96%), GTCO (7.25%), MTNN (5.64%) and ZENITHBANK (5.39%) completely the top 5 on the volumes chart.While MTNN led the values chart or most traded stocks, accounting for 43.68%. However, IKEJAHOTEL, FIDSON and LINKASSURE topped the advancers’ chart, with their share prices appreciating by 10.00 percent, 7.91 percent and 7.69 percent, respectively.Market data shows that BOCGAS led the decliners’ table with its share price depreciating by 9.95 percent to close at N9.50 after opening the day at N10.95.Today, sell pressure on AIRTELAF (-1.5%), ZENITH (-0.6%), and FBNH (-0.7%) contributed largely to the negative performance. Year to date loss worsened to -6.7% while market capitalisation decreased to ₦19.6 trillion.FBNH traded 18.1 million shares, UBA 13 million, and GTCO 11.8 million while MTNN trading transactions was valued at ₦1.5 billion, NESTLE ₦600.3 million, and GTCO ₦355.4 million.Mixed Sector PerformanceAfrinvest said in market report that performance across sectors under its coverage was mixed as 3 indices gained while 3 indices lost.The AFR-ICT index led the laggards, down 0.7% on the back of sell-offs in AIRTELAF (-1.5%).In the same vein, the Oil & Gas and Banking indices shed 0.3% and 2bps respectively due to price depreciation in OANDO (-3.0%), CONOIL (-4.3%), ZENITH (-0.6%), and FBNH (-0.7%).On the flip side, the Insurance index led the gainers, up 0.2% following price appreciation in LINKASSURE (+7.7%) and MANSARD (+1.1%).Similarly, the Industrial and Consumer Goods indices rose by 10bps and 1bp respectively, largely attributed to buying interests in WAPCO (+1.2%), VITAFOAM (+2.8%), and FLOURMILL (+0.2%).Investors Sentiment WanesInvestors’ sentiment, as measured by market breadth waned to 0.7x from 1.4x recorded in the last trading session as 13 stocks advanced while 18 stocks declined.IKEJAHOTEL (+10.0%), FIDSON (+7.9%), and LINKASSURE (+7.7%) led gainers while BOCGAS (-10.0%), ROYALEX (-7.9%), and UNITY (-5.2%) led decliners. “In the next trading session, we suspect that investors may continue to trade cautiously”, Afrinvest projected.Stocks Tumble N34.3 Billion as Investors Book Profits
