Investors Resume Sell-offs As Market Loses N68.2bn

Investors in the nation’s stock market have resumed sell-offs as the market reverted to its losing trend, shedding N68.2bn in one day.

Major sell-offs were witnessed in MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Lafarge Africa Plc, which dragged the benchmark index down by 53 basis points to 26,244.39bps as market capitalisation fell to N12.776tn from the N12.844tn recorded on Monday.

At the end of trading activities on Tuesday, activity level was mixed as volume traded declined by 44.9 per cent to 267.898 million units while value traded advanced by 156.7 per cent to N2.766bn.

The top traded stocks by volume were FCMB Group Plc (51.6 million units), Zenith Bank Plc (43.1 million units) and GTB (42.3 million units) were the top traded stocks by volume while GTB (N1.1bn), Zenith Bank (N732m) and Access Bank Plc (N272.0m).

Performance across sectors was bearish as four sectors recorded losses.

The industrial goods, banking and AFR-ICT indices shed the most, down by 0.9 per cent apiece as a result of major sell-offs in Lafarge, GTB, UBA Group Plc and MTN Nigeria.

Similarly, the oil and gas index lost 0.2 per cent on account of price depreciation in Oando Plc and Forte Oil Plc.

On the flipside, the insurance index appreciated the most, up 0.8 per cent, following buy interest in Cornerstone Insurance Plc and Aiico Insurance Plc.

The consumer goods index trailed, gaining 0.1 per cent on the back of price appreciation in Nigerian Breweries Plc.

Investor sentiment weakened as market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 1.3x from 1.7x as 13 stocks advanced compared with 10 decliners.

The top gainers were Red Star Express Plc, Cornerstone Insurance and Aiico Insurance while Chams Plc, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc and Lafarge were the top losers.

Analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited said although there was room for bargain hunting, they expected the bearish sentiment to persist.