GTBank, Ecobank drag Nigeria ASI down with price declines as investors lose N23bn

By Charles Abuede

The sell-offs on the local bourse continued Wednesday with the All-Share index falling by 10 basis points to 42,000.01 points as a result of price declines in GTBank (-2.1%), Wapco Plc (-1.6%), and Ecobank (-4.8%).

As a result, the market year-to-date return declined to 4.3 per cent while market capitalisation fell by N22.9 billion to settle at N21.97 trillion from N21.99 trillion as of the previous close.

Also, as a result of the sell-offs witnessed in the midweek trading, activity level varied as volume traded declined 9.2 per cent to 504.8 million units and value traded advanced 11.0 per cent to N5.3 billion. The most traded stocks by volume were Union Bank (75.6million units), GTBank (60.7million units) and FCMB (50.4million units) while GTBank (N2 billion), Zenith Bank (N832 million) and Union Bank (N434.4 million) led by value.

Following the lacklustre performance witnessed in Tuesday’s trading, the sectoral performance was bearish as all indicators declined except theAfr-ICT index that closed flat. The insurance index lost the most, down 2.3 per cent due to price declines in Wapic Plc (-8.5%) and NEM Insurance (-3.1%). Similarly, sell-offs in Flour Mill (-3.0%), GTBank (-2.1%) and Ecobank (-4.8%) drove the consumer goods and banking indices lower by 0.2 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively. The industrial goods and oil & gas indices lost 12 basis points and 5 basis points respectively following price weakness in Wapco Plc (-1.6%) and Oando Plc (-10.0%).

However, there was an improvement in the investor sentiment as measured by market breadth which increased to 0.7x from the 0.2x recorded previously, as 19 stocks gained against 26 losers. NCR (+9.9%), Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc (+9.5%) and Prestige Assurance (+9.1%) were the top gainers while Linkage Assurance (-9.9%), Champion Breweries (-9.8%) and Regency Insurance (-9.4%) were the top losers.

NSE 30

The NSE 30 Index marginally decreased by 0.08 per cent to close at 1,700.78 points as against 1,702.18 points on the previous day. Market turnover closed with a traded volume of 317.66 million units. Unilever and Zenith were the key gainers, while Ecobank and Sterling were the key losers.

Foreign Exchange Market

In the foreign exchange market on Wednesday, the CBN official exchange rate traded at N379 to a dollar while at the local currency market it closed at N480 in exchange for the greenback in the parallel market. At the I&E FX market, naira further depreciated by 0.13 per cent as the dollar was quoted at N395.50 per dollar as against the last close of N395. Most market participants maintained bids between N388 and N416.95 per dollar.

Treasury Bills market

The NT-Bills secondary market closed on a positive note with average yield across the curve decreasing by 21 basis points to close at 1 per cent from 1.21 per cent on the previous day. The average yield across long-term maturities compressed by 48 basis points, while the average yields across short-term and medium-term maturities closed flat at 0.53 per cent and 0.74 per cent, respectively. Yields on 9 bills declined with the 13-Jan-22 maturity bill recording the highest yield decrease of 58 basis points, while yields on 11 bills remained unchanged.

In the OMO bills market, the average yield across the curve remained unchanged at 1.85 per cent. Average yields across short-term, medium-term, and long-term maturities remained unchanged at 1.21 per cent, 1.36 per cent, and 2.40 per cent, respectively.

Bonds market

The FGN bonds secondary market closed on a positive note on Wednesday as the average bond yield across the curve cleared lower by 16 basis points to close at 4.39 per cent from 4.55 per cent on the previous day. Average yields across short tenor, medium tenor, and long tenor of the curve declined by 19 basis points, 8 basis points, and 4 basis points, respectively.

The FGNSB 12-FEB-2022 bond was the best performer with a decrease in yield of 54 basis points, while the 29-JUL-2045 maturity bond was the worst performer with an increase in yield of 19 basis points.