Equities Market Loses N32bn as Selloffs End Rally
The Nigerian equities market closed lower on Thursday as mid-session selloffs wiped N32bn off investors’ investments, breaking a recent spell of positive momentum on the trading floor.
The All-Share Index shed 221.14 points, representing a decline of 0.09 per cent to close at 242,145.61 points. Similarly, market capitalisation dipped by N32bn to close at N156.207tn.
The downturn was driven by price depreciation in large and medium-capitalised stocks, including BUA Cement, Eunisell Interlinked, CAP, AXA Mansard Insurance, and Transnational Corporations.
Market analysts attribute this periodic contraction to profit-taking portfolio adjustments,” With the Central Bank of Nigeria maintaining a hawkish stance to curb inflation, leaving the benchmark Monetary Policy Rate elevated at 26.50 per cent, fixed-income instruments like Treasury bills continue to attract risk-averse investors, triggering intermittent capital reallocation away from the stock market.”
Furthermore, the ongoing banking sector recapitalisation programme continues to dictate investor sentiment as institutional buyers realign their holdings in anticipation of tier-1 bank rights issues and public offers.
Despite the minor setback, the broader long-term outlook for local equities remains robust. The market recently celebrated crossing the historic 200,000-point threshold in March, followed by a milestone expansion that pushed the total market capitalisation beyond the N150tn mark, driven largely by local capital mobilisation, impressive corporate earnings, and policy reforms.
This underlying strength was reflected in Thursday’s positive market breadth, as 26 gainers outpaced 21 losers. FBN Holdings emerged as the highest price gainer, surging 9.96 per cent to close at N87.25 per share. McNichols followed with an 8.00 per cent gain to close at N5.40, while United Bank for Africa rose 7.93 per cent to close at N44.25 per share.
Veritas Kapital Assurance increased 6.85 per cent to close at N1.56, while Jaiz Bank appreciated 4.07 per cent to close at N8.95 per share.
On the losers’ chart, Eunisell Interlinked led the decliners, dropping 10 per cent to close at N189.00 per share. BUA Cement followed with a decline of 9.99 per cent to close at N275.60, while CAP declined 9.61 per cent to close at N142.45 per share. Royal Exchange lost 9.55 per cent to close at N1.42, while Guinea Insurance depreciated 5.38 per cent to close at 88 kobo per share.
Activity levels cooled slightly as the total volume traded declined 10.0 per cent to 498.45 million units, valued at N34.87bn, and exchanged in 39,484 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Japaul Gold & Ventures led market activity with 77.658 million shares worth N231.525m. Access Holdings followed with 41.161 million shares valued at N1.018bn, while FBN Holdings traded 38.800 million shares valued at N3.384bn.
Rounding off the top transactions, UBA traded 31.526 million shares worth N1.381bn, while Fidelity Bank traded 23.808 million shares worth N495.008m.