Equities Market Sheds N114bn Amid Investors’ Trade Exits

The equities market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) declined by N114 billion last week, following investors trade exits as buying sentiment dropped drastically in the first quarter of 2022.

At the end of last week trading activities, the All-share Index (NGX-ASI) down by 0.5 per cent to close at 46,631.46 points, thus, year to date return moderated to 9.2 per cent from 9.7 per cent in the prior week.

Overall, the Nigerian equity market capitalisation printed at N25.14 trillion, below the previous position as MTNN was marked down for dividend payment.

On Friday, the equity market upturned Thursday’s negative sentiment following the bargain-hunting in ARDOVA and 27 other stocks. Investors recorded N47.42 billion.

Trading data shows that the market activities were bearish, as the total volume and value plunged by 36.85 per cent and 25.34 per cent, respectively. In a market report, Atlass Portfolios said about 154.12 million units valued at ₦1.75 billion were transacted in 4,515 deals, citing data from the Nigerian Exchange.

FIDELITYBK remained the most traded stock in terms of volume, accounting for 13.12 per cent of the total volume of trades.

The Tier-2 lender was followed closely by ZENITH BANK, which accounted for 7.75 per cent of the transaction, UBA 7.52 per cent, TRANSCORP 7.28 per cent and NGXGROUP 6.58 per cent to complete the top five on the volume chart.

Meanwhile, ZENITH BANK emerged as the most traded stock in value terms, with 15.62 per cent of the total value of trades on the exchange. ARDOVA topped the advancers’ chart with a price appreciation of 9.87 per cent.

The downstream oil company was trailed by MEYER (9.71%), GTCO (2.45%), GUINNESS (2.19%), UCAP (1.55%), UBA (1.29%), ACCESSCORP (1.03%), WAPCO (0.92%), ZENITHBANK (0.88%), NB (0.50%), NGXGROUP (0.21%) and seventeen (17) others.

On the flip side, sixteen (16) stocks depreciated, led by ROYALEX with a price decline of 9.52 per cent to close at ₦0.95. UCAP (-3.81%), UBN (-1.64%), HONYFLOUR (-1.14%), FIDSON (-0.87%), LIVESTOCK (-0.62%) and FLOURMILL (-0.16%) also dipped in price.The market breadth was positive, recording 28 gainers and 16 losers while sectoral performance was bullish. The five major sectors closed positively compared to the previous session, led by Oil & Gas (0.83%), Banking (0.75%), Insurance (0.64%), Consumer Goods (0.20%) and Industrial Goods (0.06%), respectively.