Bears out for Zenith, StanbicIBTC, Access Bank as sell-offs cost investors N1.7bn
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All-Share Index at 39,201.33 points
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Market Cap at N20.425 trn
It was a day for the bears on Thursday as they maintained steam in the local equities market costing investors N1.7 billion in losses from an extended negative performance on account of sell pressure on Zenith Bank (-0.8%), Stanbic IBTC (-0.5%), and Access Bank (-0.5%). The bearish outing pushed the NGX All-Share Index to a marginal 0.01 percent to peg at 39,201.33 points, and pushed the market year to date loss to stand at -2.66 percent, while market capitalisation fell to N20.425 trillion from N20.426 trillion in the previous session.
The level of trading activity was consequently mixed as volume traded fell by 1.0 percent to 350.5 million units while value traded rose by 4.5 percent to N3.3 billion.
Leading the order for the most traded stocks by volume on Thursday were First Bank Holdings (97.7m units), Wema Bank (74.9m units), and Access Bank (47.8m units) while First Bank Holdings (N729.6m), Nigerian Breweries (N486.8m), and Access Bank (N451.2m) led the table of most traded securities by value on Thursday.
It was a mixed performance across the various sectors as the ICT index remained unchanged from the previous day. The oil & gas index led the gainers’ table, advancing 0.6 percent, driven by sustained buying interest in Oando Plc (+3.1%). Similarly, the consumer goods and banking indices rose by 14 basis points and 3 basis points, respectively, as a result of price appreciation in Nigerian Breweries (+1.3%), UBA (+4.7%), and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (+0.2%).
In contrast, the insurance and industrial goods indices dipped 1.7 percent and 2 basis points, respectively, on the back of sell-offs in AIICO Insurance (-6.9%), Cornerstone Insurance (-7.7%), and Lafarge Africa (-0.4%).
However, investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, weakened to 0.5x from 1.1x as 9 stocks advanced while 20 stocks declined. Chams Plc (+4.8%), UBA (+4.7%), and Cutix Plc (+4.6%) led the gainers’ table while Cornerstone Insurance (-7.7%), AIICO Insurance (-6.9%), and Learn Africa (-5.6%) led the losers’ chart.
Meanwhile, the NGX 30 Index marginally rose by 0.001 percent to close at 1,616.56 points as against 1,616.54 points on the previous day. Market turnover closed with a traded volume of 208.29 million units. UBA and Nigerian Breweries were the key gainers, while Sterling and FCMB were the key losers.