Charles Abuede
Investors in the Nigerian equities market lost N1.2 billion on account of the continued bearish trading activities as sustained profit-taking dragged the performance to the red.
However, more opportunities for bargain hunting continue to offer themselves to investors, said analysts.
The performance of the market in Wednesday’s trading activities was largely as a result of sustained losses on account of profit-taking in WAPCO (-3.7%), UBA (-3.3%) and ZENITH (-1.2%) as the All-Share Index declined 19 basis points (bps) to settle at 25,550.31 points.
Consequently, market capitalisation fell to N13.4 trillion as investors lost N1.2 billion, while the year-to-date (YTD) loss worsened to -4.8 per cent.
Also, the activity level waned as volume and value traded decreased by 13.6 per cent and 19.8 per cent respectively to 211.8 million units and N2.4 billion. The most traded stocks by volume were FCMB (30.3m units), ACCESS (21.0m units) and UBA (18.6m units) while MTNN (N1.1 billion), ZENITH (N306.3 million) and ACCESS (N139.4 million) led by value.
Mixed sector performance
Consequently, market performance across sectors was mixed though negatively skewed as three of the six indices covered closed in the red. The Insurance and Banking indices led laggards, down 1.5 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively, following sell pressures in NEM (-9.8%), AIICO (-3.4%), UBA (-3.3.%) and ZENITH ( 1.2%).
Similarly, the Industrial Goods index fell 0.2 per cent due to sell-off in WAPCO (-3.7%). On the other hand, the Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods indices were the gainers, up 0.4 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively as investors took a position in OANDO (+4.4%), ARDOVA (+0.4%) and VITAFOAM (+1.8%). Lastly, the AFR-ICT index closed flat.
Investor sentiment unchanged
Meanwhile, investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) was unchanged at 0.9x as 17 stocks gained against the 19 that lost. The top gainers were LEARNAFRCA (+9.6%), BERGER (+7.4%) and UBN (+7.0%), while ROYALEX (-10.0%), NEM (-9.8%) and CADBURY (-8.4%) lost the most.
