Market cap down N337bn as investors lock in profits amid selloffs

Business a.m

The Nigerian equities market plunged by over N337 billion as sell-side investors, reentering the market after a brief respite, triggered a barrage of negative transactions, primarily targeting banking and oil and gas stocks, leading to a loss of value in midweek trading.

The renewed sell-side pressure saw the Nigerian Exchange’s key performance indicators falter, declining by 57 basis points on the day, wiping out Tuesday’s rally. 

The All-Share Index suffered a loss of 556.37 basis points, shedding 0.57 percent of its value to close at 96,567.24 points in Wednesday’s trading session.

Amid the market tumult, stockbrokers observed profit-taking activity in some key stocks across the Banking and Consumer goods sectors, with UBA and ZENITHBANK shareholders offloading their positions despite the strong earnings reported by these top banks.

The profit-taking activity, coupled with the continued negative investor sentiment, significantly weighed on the performance of these stocks, adding to the broader market decline.

STERLINGNG emerged as the most traded stock in terms of volume, representing 19.04 percent of the total volume traded in the equities market.

Following close behind, UBA, ACCESSCORP, JAIZBANK, and VERITASKAP were also major volume drivers, accounting for 18.87 percent, 10.62 percent, 10.43 percent, and 6.04 percent of the total volume traded, respectively.

UBA took the lead as the most traded stock in terms of value, making up a significant 25.59% of the total value of trades on the exchange.

EUNISELL made a remarkable surge on the advancers’ chart, soaring by 9.87 percent, trailed by REGALINS with a 9.30 percent price appreciation.

The market also witnessed positive movement in fourteen other stocks. However, this was juxtaposed with a negative performance by twenty-one stocks, as reported by stockbroking firms.

Amidst the market swings, UBA suffered the most significant loss, depreciating 9.99 percent and topping the decliners’ chart.

OANDO followed closely with a 9.98 percent price depreciation, trailed by NASCON (-7.83%), LASACO (-7.50%), TRANSCORP (-3.33%), and ZENITHBANK (-0.81%).

The trading session concluded with a slightly negative market breadth, recording 20 gainers and 21 losers.

Despite the overall decline, the Oil & Gas (+0.80%), Insurance (+0.49%), and Industrial Goods (+0.03%) sectors experienced gains due to increased investor interest in stocks such as CONOIL (+3.32%), VERITASKAP (+9.17%), and WAPCO (+0.66%).

Despite some sectors experiencing growth, the bearish performance of UBA and NASCON in the Banking and Consumer Goods sectors, respectively, pulled down the Nigerian Exchange equities market capitalisation by N337.13 billion.

This decline resulted in a closing market capitalisation of N58.51 trillion on Wednesday, reflecting the impact that the selloffs in these leading stocks can have on the market’s overall performance.