Equities Market Starts Week Bearish As Investors Lose N72bn

The Nigerian equities market yesterday started the week’s trading session in a downturn as investors’ investment declined by N72 billion.

The All-Share Index (ASI) lost 116.21 points, representing a decline of 0.11 per cent to close at 107,937.74 points. Also, market capitalisation declined by N72 billion to close at N67.346 trillion.

The downturn was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Oando, VFD Group, Eterna, PZ Cussons Nigeria and Ikeja Hotels.

Looking forward, United Capital Plc said “the equities market is expected to maintain its positive momentum as investors continue to position themselves ahead of the full year 2024 earnings season and possible corporate action declarations. Nevertheless, given the elevated interest rate environment in the fixed-income market, we still expect bearish sentiments to linger in the background.”

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative, as 20 stocks gained relative to 42 losers. Nigerian Breweries emerged the highest price gainer of 10 per cent to close at N36.30, per share. Cadbury Nigeria followed with a gain of 9.97 per cent to close at N32.00, while The Initiates Plc (TIP) rose by 9.88 per cent to close at N4.45, per share.

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International Energy Insurance increased by 9.87 per cent to close at N2.45, while Nigerian Enamelware added 9.43 per cent to close at N23.20, per share. On the other side, Ikeja Hotel and Learn Africa led the losers’ chart with 10 per cent each to close at N12.60 and N3.87 respectively, while Cornerstone Insurance followed with a decline of 9.80 per cent to close at N3.13, per share.

UPDC depreciated by 9.79 per cent to close at N3.41, while VFD Group declined by 9.66 per cent to close at N52.40, per share.

The total volume traded rose by 6.8 per cent to 511.100 million units, valued at N12.807 billion, and exchanged in 17,095 deals. Transactions in the shares of Access Holdings led the activity with 143.647 million shares worth N4.031 billion. AIICO Insurance followed with an account of 24.614 million shares valued at N42.823 million, while UPDC traded 20.437 million shares valued at N76.679 million.

Fidelity Bank traded 19.894 million shares worth N384.079 million, while United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 17.867 million shares worth N688.207 million.