Investors Lose N25bn As Stock Market Extends Decline
Equities on the Nigerian Exchange Limited posted a loss of N25.21bn in market capitalisation at the end of trading on Monday.
The NGX All-Share Index depreciated by 0.12 per cent as it closed at N39,434.69 basis points from 39,483.08bps while the market cap fell to N20.55tn from N20.57tn.
Market activity dropped as trading volume decreased by 24.68 per cent to 211.33 million shares valued at N2.03bn in 3,939 deals on Monday from 280.57 million shares worth N3.18bn in 4,012 deals on Friday.
Analysing by sectors, major indices decreased except for NGX Insurance, which saw a 0.37 per cent appreciation to 188.77bps from 188.07bps.
NGX Banking, Oil & Gas, Consumer Goods, and Industrial indices dropped by 0.07 per cent, 0.14 per cent, 0.12 per cent, and 0.32 per cent respectively on Monday.
The Premium and Main Board indices also decreased by 0.16 per cent and 0.09 per cent to close at 3,844.22bps and 1,608.51bps respectively.
Twenty-one firms recorded a rise in their share prices, compared with 11 losers at the end of trading on the floor of the NGX on Monday.
FTN Cocoa Processors Plc grew by 10.00 per cent to N0.44 per share. It was followed by Pharma-Deko Plc with 9.88 per cent gain, closing at N1.89 per share.
The other top gainers were Transcorp Hotels Plc (+9.69 per cent), Courtville Business Solutions Plc (+9.68 per cent), and Learn Africa Plc (+9.30 per cent).
Lafarge Africa Plc recorded the biggest loss on Monday as its share price fell by 5.29 per cent to N21.50 at the close of trading.
PZ Cussons Plc came next with a 4.17 per cent depreciation to N5.75 per share, Union Bank Nigeria Plc, Eterna Plc and FCMB Group Plc lost 3.81 per cent, 2.36 per cent and 2.27 per cent respectively.
“Trading in the domestic bourse carried on last week’s bearish performance, as sell-offs in Lafarge and UBN triggered the market’s loss,” said analysts at Cordros Capital.
“Thus the benchmark index declined by 0.1 per cent, while month-to-date and year-to-date returns settled at +2.3 per cent and -2.1 per cent respectively,” they added.
Analysts at Atlas Portfolios Limited noted that the Nigerian equity market opened the new week on a negative note as bearish sentiments continued to cause price depreciation across various tickers on the bourse.
“Similarly, market activities closed on a lower note with the volume and value of stocks traded on the exchange depreciating respectively, while market sentiment as measured by breadth turned positive,” they added.
