Equities Open Week Bearish, Loss N249bn

The bears dominated the local equities market yesterday to commence trading activities for this week as the overall capitalisation recorded a decline of N707 billion.

The All-Share Index (ASI) shed 438.93 points, representing a loss of 0.44 per cent to close at 99,304.12 points. Also, market capitalisation declined by N249 billion to close at N56.175 trillion.

The downturn was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Beta Glass, Dangote Sugar Refinery, Lafarge Africa, FBN Holdings (FBNH) and Oando.

Looking ahead, analysts at United Capital Plc said “we expect activities in the fixed income market to continue to stand as a demotivator toward a broader/deeper scale of equities investments. Investors are only entertaining opportunistic investments in fundamentally sound stocks (relatively/wholly undervalued) and stocks with recent corporate actions (particularly M&As).

“The observed bargain hunting is expected to remain unabated as a class of investors opt to begin preparation for a moderation in monetary policy posture in H2 2024 (particularly in Q3 2024). A strong basis for the preparation is the expected high base effect for inflation in June 2024.

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“Overall, fund managers and investors may continue to adopt an opportunistic investment strategy, which involves trading market volatility and/or investing in undervalued equities.”

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment closed negative, as 20 stocks gained relative to 26 losers. Secure Electronic Technology emerged the highest price gainer of 10 per cent to close at 55 kobo, per share. VFD Group followed with a gain of 9.85 per cent to close at N44.60, while John Holt advanced by 9.58 per cent to close at N2.86, per share.

Thomas Wyatt Nigeria increased by 9.52 per cent to close at N2.30, while Transcorp Hotels added 9.33 per cent to close at N98.40, per share.

On the other side, International Breweries led others on the losers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N3.96, per share. Deap Capital Management and Trust followed with a decline of 8.93 per cent to close at 51 kobo, while DAAR Communications shed 8.77 per cent to close at 52 kobo, per share.

Beta Glass depreciated by 8.62 per cent to close at N53.00, while Oando lost 7.36 per cent to close at N13.85, per share.

Also, the total volume traded increased by 57.74 per cent to 973.623 million units, valued at N19.315 billion, and exchanged in 9,941 deals. Transactions in the shares of FBNH led the activity with 627.604 million shares worth N13.452 billion. Beta Glass followed with an account of 35.698 million shares valued at N1.892 billion, while Veritas Kapital Assurance traded 35.344 million shares valued at N33.472 million.

Chams Holding Company traded 26.152 million shares worth N60.269 million, while AIICO Insurance traded 24.299 million shares worth N23.238 million.