As MTN, Diamond Bank Shares Plunge Over Fine, Investors Lose N99bn

The market capitalization of the Nigerian Stock exchange (NSE) fell by N99.4bn to N12.8tn following sale pressures in bellwethers -GUARANTY (-2.7%), DANGCEM (-0.4%), STANBIC (-2.6%) and ZENITH (-1.6%).
The MTN Group shares in South Africa went down yesterday following sanctions imposed on the company by the CBN.

Reuters reports that the group’s shares plunged to a nine year low to as much as much as 23 per cent.
Diamond Bank’s shares also traded at N1.27 in yesterday’s session on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, down by 8.63%.

The All Share Index (ASI) declined by 0.8% to 35,086.67 points. Consequently, YTD loss worsened to -8.3%
Activity level however, was mixed as volume traded declined 17.5% to 284.6m units while value traded rose 51.9% to N3.4bn respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were UBA (57.1m),NEM (45.3m) and ACCESS (30.7m) while NIGERIAN BREWERIES (N1.0bn), GUARANTY(N0.6bn) and UBA (N0.5bn) were the top traded stocks by value.

Across sectors, performance was largely bearish as 4 of 5 indices closed south. The Industrial Goods index led decliners, down 2.3%, as investor took profits in DANGCEM(-0.4%) and WAPCO (-7.1%).

The Banking index fell 1.8%, following sell pressures in GUARANTY (-2.7%), STANBIC (-2.6%) and ZENITH (-1.6%) while the Insurance and Oil & Gas indices lost 1.5% and 0.8% respectively on the back of investors’ exit in CONTINSURE (-4.1%), PRESTIGE (-8.8%), FORTE (-7.8%) and OANDO (-2.8%).
On the flipside, the Consumer Goods index – today’s sole gainer – rose 0.2%, following price appreciations in GUINNESS (+5.6%) and HONEYFLOUR (+1.3%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) further weakened to 0.4x from 1.9x recorded yesterday as 11 stocks advanced against 27 decliners.
The best performers were NEM (+10.0%), LIVESTOCK (+9.3%) and JAPUALOIL (+8.0%) while MANSARD (-9.8%), INTENEGINS (-9.5%) and DIAMOND (-9.4%) were the laggards.

Analyst at Afrinvest said: “Yesterday’s bearish performance in the market was largely due to profit taking in bellwethers and market reaction to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) fine on listed Nigerian banks STANBIC (-2.6%) and DIAMOND (-9.4%).
‘’Tomorrow, we expect an upturn as investors take positions in bellwethers with attractive entry prices.”