Investors loss N93bn as market cap at 8-month lowest
Investors in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) lost N93bn at the close of trading yesterday as market capitalization fell to N13.2 trillion.
Profit taking in market bellwethers - INTBREW (-8.0%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-2.3%), WAPCO (-10.0%) and DANGCEM (-0.4%) - reversed gains recorded in the preceding session, pushing the benchmark index 0.7% lower to 32,455.24 points while YTD loss declined to 4.7% its lowest level since October 2017.
However, activity level strengthened as volume and value traded advanced 67.6% and 100.1% to 378.7m units and N4.4bn respectively.
The top traded strocks by volume were MEDVIEWAIR (100.0m units),TRANSCORP (45.5m units) and ZENITH (42.7m) while the top traded stocks by value wereZENITH (N988.5), GUARANTY (N545.5bn) (N499.5bn).
Performance across sectors was largely bearish as 4 of 5 indices closed in the red. The Industrial Goods index led decliners, shedding 3.9% as investors sold off on WAPCO (-10.0%) and DANGCEM (-0.4%).
Similarly, the Banking index reversed gains from yesterday as investors exited positions in UBA (-2.7%) and FIDELITY (-9.5%). On the flipside, the Insurance index was the and DANGCEM lone advancer, up 0.2%, as investors took advantage of bargain hunting opportunity in CUSTODIAN (+9.9%).
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio ) weakened to 0.6x from 1.1x recorded yesterday as 16 stocks advanced against 29 stocks that declined. Today’s top gaining stocks were CUTIX (+10.0%), CUSTODIAN (+9.9%) and WAPIC(+4.8%) while BETAGLAS (-10.0%), WAPCO (-10.0%) and PRESCO (-10.0%) were the performing stocks.
Analyst at Afrinvest said: “Our observation of trading yesterday saw investors react negatively to disappointing earnings of DANGSUGAR and WAPCO. Going forward, we expect trading activities over the near term to be dictated by a balance of play between investors’ reaction to earnings releases and bargain hunting on fundamentally sound stocks trading at attractive entry prices.” worst