Stock Market Opens Week Lower, Sheds N437bn

The Nigerian stock market opened the week on a negative with N437 billion loss on decline in MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN) Plc and 27 others.

The All Share Index (ASI) shed 761.42 points, representing a loss of 0.73 per cent to close at 103,659.81 points. Also, market capitalisation depreciated by N437 billion to close at N56.721 trillion.

The downtrend was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; MTNN, PZ Cussons Nigeria, Fidelity Bank, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) and Access Holdings.

Looking ahead, United Capital Plc said: “we expect positive sentiments to dominate the market, supported by the commencement of the full year, 2023 earning season.

“We expect bargain-hunting activities across stocks with strong fundamentals and impressive earnings releases. We anticipate increased buy-interests towards corporates in the financial services sector due to expectations of strong top-bottom line growth. Meanwhile, dividend scouting investors can also cherry-pick stocks ahead of full-year dividend declarations.”

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Market breadth closed slightly negative as 27 stocks gained relative to 28 decliners. Cadbury Nigeria, Cornerstone Insurance, Meyer, DAAR Communications and May & Baker Nigeria recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each to close at N22.00, N2.09, N4.73, 77 kobo and N6.93 respectively, per share.

Sovereign Trust Insurance followed with a gain of 9.80 per cent to close at 56 kobo, while Ellah Lakes appreciated by 9.71 per cent to close at N3.73, per share.

On the other hand, Abbey Mortgage Bank led the losers’ chart by 9.70 per cent to close at N2.70, per share. Livestock Feeds followed with a decline of 9.66 per cent to close at N1.87, while Fidelity Bank lost 9.38 per cent to close at N11.60, per share.

Jaiz Bank depreciated by 7.93 per cent to close at N2.67, while MTNN declined by 5.52 per cent to close at N274.00, per share.

The total volume traded decreased by 10.81 per cent to 841.551 million units, valued at N19.328 billion, and exchanged in 13,674 deals. Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings (FBNH) topped the activity chart with 332.297 million shares valued at N8.955 billion.

Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) followed with 49.969 million shares worth N812.132 million, while Oando traded 43.507 million shares valued at N637.132 million.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 34.731 million shares valued at N951.327 million, while Nigerian Breweries sold 29.747 million shares worth N1.133 billion.