Investors Lose N78.7bn As Sell Pressure Hits Stock Market

Sell pressure in the banking stocks – Guaranty (-3.7%), Stanbic (-5.2%) and FBNH(-2.4%) has seen investors lost N78.7billion in value as market capitalisation fell to N11.6trillion yesterday.

It also dragged the benchmark index 67 basis points (bps) lower to settle at 30,829.45 points, while the year to date (YTD) return worsened to -1.9%.

Accordingly, activity level declined as volume and value traded dipped 8.5% and 16.6% to 131.4m units and N1.4bn respectively.

The top traded stocks by volume were Zenith (27.9m units), Sterling (25.0m units) and Access (16.2m units) while Zenith (N606.6m), Nigerian Breweries (N151.3m) and Access (N104.1m) led the top trades by value.

Performance across sectors was largely bearish as 4 of 5 indices closed in the red. The Industrial Goods index emerged the lone gainer, up 3bps due to buying interest in Cutix (+9.7%).

Conversely, the Insurance index shed the most, down 1.3% on the back of sell pressures in Custodian (-3.2%), NEM (-5.5%) and WAPIC (-2.5%), trailed by the Banking index which declined 1.0% as Guaranty (-3.7%), Stanbic (-5.2%) and Access (-0.8%) closed in the red.

Sell offs in SEPLAT (-1.8%) dragged the Oil & Gas index down by 0.8% while the Consumer Goods index declined 0.4% as a result of losses in Guinness (-2.4%), Flourmill (-5.0%) and DANGFLOUR (-3.9%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth weakened to 0.6x from 0.9x recorded the previous day as 11 stocks advanced relative to 19 stocks that declined.

Top outperforming stocks were UNIONDAC (+10.0%), Cutix (+9.7%) and MEDVIEWAIR (+5.9%) while NEM (-5.5%), Stanbic (-5.2%) and Flourmill (-5.0%) led laggards.

Analyst at Afrinvest aid: “While the downward trend continues, it presents opportunities to position in fundamentally sound stocks; nonetheless, we expect a bearish close tomorrow as investor sentiment remains weak.”