Bearish sentiment drags market cap down 0.68% to N444bn

Onome Amuge

The Nigerian stock market witnessed a reversal of earlier gains on Wednesday, as the All-Share Index (ASI) retreated by 0.68 percent to close at 103,851.88 points. This downturn erased N444 billion from investors’ portfolios, with market capitalisation also declining by 0.68 percent to N65.26 trillion.

Trading sentiment was broadly mixed across sectors. This is as the banking sector bore the brunt of the selling pressure, registering a 4.67 per cent decline. The Oil & Gas sector also saw a marginal dip of 0.05 per cent. In contrast, the Insurance sector provided some positive momentum, advancing by 0.80 per cent, while the Consumer Goods sector edged up by 0.34 per cent. The Industrial and Commodity sectors remained largely unchanged by the closing bell.

Despite the overall negative trajectory of the benchmark index, market breadth was positive, with 25 stocks recording gains against 20 losers. Leading the advancers were ABBEY Building Society (ABBEYBDS), Sovereign Trust Insurance (SOVRENINS), NGX Group (NGXGROUP), Fidelity Bank (FIDELITYBK), and DEAP Capital Management (DEAPCAP). 

Conversely, ABC Transport (ABCTRANS), Guinea Insurance (GUINEAINS), UPDC REIT (UPDCREIT), DAAR Communications (DAARCOMM), and C.I. Leasing (CILEASING) emerged the biggest losers.

Trading activity saw a slight contraction in terms of volume and deals. The number of transactions decreased by 8.22 percent, while trading volume fell by 4.64 percent. However, the total value of shares traded saw an increase of 13.71 per cent, reaching N13.71 billion. 

Overall, a total of 351.66 million shares exchanged hands in 12,141 deals.