Investors lose N48.8bn at NGX on sell pressure in Zenith, GTCo shares 

Bears held sway on the Nigerian equities market as a loss of N48.8 billion on Tuesday put a halt to the previous day’s bullish outing and have the market close on a negative note, shedding 0.22 percent to leave the benchmark index at 42,317.52 basis points, while market capitalisation of listed equities, decreased to N22.08 trillion from N22.13 trillion recorded on Monday. This brought the month-to-date and year-to-date outings of the NGX All-Share Index to -2.15 percent and 5.08 percent, respectively.

In the same way, profit-taking activities and sell pressures in Zenith Bank, Guaranty Trust Holding Company dragged market performance as the level of trading activities ended mixed with a 17.6 percent increase in trade volume to 270.1 million units and total value traded declined 30.1 percent to N2.3 billion.

A look at the most traded equities for the day saw Access Bank (55 million units), Universal Insurance (53.2 million units), and Unity Bank (25.2 million units) emerging as the most traded securities by volume, while Access Bank (N497.7 million), Guaranty Trust Holding Company (N387.4 million) and FBN Holdings (N252.5 million) were the most traded stocks by value on Tuesday.

Across the sectorial fronts, it was a mixed performance as the ICT sector closed flat, while the insurance and consumer goods indices upticked 0.4 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively due to gains in Custodian Pensions (+9.9%), Cornerstone Insurance (+6.4%), Honeywell Flour (+1.1%), and May & Baker (+1.0%).

On the other hand, the banking index plunged 0.9 percent and was weighed on by losses in Guaranty Trust Holding Company (-3.9%) and Zenith Bank (-1.2%).

Equally, the industrial goods and oil & gas indices declined 0.1 percent apiece, following sell pressure on Lafarge Cement (-0.8%), Cutix Plc (-1.5%), and Oando Plc (-0.4%), respectively.

Elsewhere, the level of investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth weakened to 0.7x from 1.4x as 18 stocks declined while 13 stocks advanced. Custodian Pensions and Investments (+9.9%), Royal Exchange Assurance (+8.6%), and Meyer (+8.3%) led gainers; while UPDC Real Estate Company (-6.7%), Japaul Gold (-5.1%), and Caverton Plc (-4.6%) led decliners for the day.

For the NGX 30 Index, there was a drop of 0.29 percent to close at 1,702.76 points, as against 1,707.78 points the previous day. The total market turnover closed with a traded volume of 143.10 million units. Custodian Pension and Investments and Nigerian Breweries were the key gainers, while Guaranty Trust Holding Company and Ecobank were the key losers.