Investors lose N128bn, dump banks’ shares

Investors in the nation’s equity market lost a total of N128bn as the equities market reversed gains recorded in previous sessions.

Investors embarked on selling spree, with banking shares experiencing the most sell-offs.

Analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited said the successive gains recorded in the equities market were ended by sell-offs in Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Dangote Cement Plc and Access Bank Plc.

The market capitalisation of equities dropped from N15.30tn on Monday to N15.18tn on Tuesday while the All Share Index depreciated by 0.83 per cent to close at 29,462.76 basis points.

Consequently, the year-to-date return fell to 9.8 per cent.

Activity level was mixed as volume traded rose by 2.2 per cent to 272.84 million units while value traded fell by 11.9 per cent to N3.71bn.

Zenith Bank (57.8 million units), Access Bank (33 million units) and United Bank for Africa Plc (22.4 million units) led the most traded stocks by volume while  Zenith Bank (N1.3bn), Dangote Cement (N414m) and MTN Nigeria Communications Plc (N351.2m) led by value.

Despite sell-offs, performance across sectors remained bullish as four sectors recorded gains.

The insurance and consumer goods indices led gainers, riding on the back of price appreciation in AXA Mansard Insurance Plc, Law Union and Rock Insurance Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc and Honeywell Flour Mills Plc.

Buying interests in Oando Plc and MTN Nigeria boosted their oil and gas and AFR-ICT indices by 0.83 per cent and 0.01 per cent respectively.

Conversely, price declines in GTB, Access Bank, Zenith Bank and Dangote Cement drove the banking and industrial goods indices down by 3.6 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively.

Investor sentiment weakened as market breadth (advance/decline ratio) fell to 0.9x from the 1.8x recorded on Monday as 15 stocks advanced against 16 decliners.

The top five gainers were Law Union and Rock Insurance Company, Unity Bank Plc, Lafarge Africa Plc, Honeywell Flour Mills and Courteville Business Solutions Plc, whose respective share prices advanced by 9.1 per cent, 6.2 per cent, 6.1 per cent, 4.9 per cent and 4.3 per cent.

Arbico Plc, Eterna Plc, Champion Breweries Plc, Access Bank and GTB led the losers table as they saw their respective share prices decline by 10 per cent, 9.7 per cent, 7.1 per cent, 6.5 per cent and 5.3 per cent.