Investors in the nation’s equities market have recorded losses worth N791bn in eight consecutive days. The market capitalisation of equities dropped from N15.26tn on Friday, January 24 to N14.47tn on Wednesday, February 5. On Wednesday, the All Share Index declined by 1.19 per cent on sustained losses as sell-offs persisted.
Analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited said major losses in Dangote Cement Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc and FBN Holdings Plc drove market lower on Wednesday. The year-to-date return moderated to 4.7 per cent. Activity level improved as volume and value traded advanced by 37.4 per cent and 40.7 per cent to 350.21 million units and N4.28bn respectively.
The most active stocks by volume were Zenith Bank Plc (98.1 million units), FBN Holdings (47.1 million units) and First City Monument Bank Plc (41.2 million units) while Zenith Bank (N1.9bn), Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (N396.6m) and Dangote Cement Plc (N340.3m) led the top traded stocks by value. Performance across sectors was mixed, although negatively skewed; three sectors recorded declines.
The banking and insurance indices gained, up by 1.5 per cent and 0.6 per cent, buoyed by price appreciation in Union Bank Nigeria Plc, Access Bank Plc and Linkage Assurance Plc. On the flip side, the oil and gas index led the losers, down by 2.2 per cent due to price depreciation in 11 Plc and Conoil Plc.
Similarly, losses in Dangote Cement, Nigerian Breweries Plc and Nascon Allied Industries Plc dragged the industrial and consumer goods indices down by 1.6 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively while the AFR-ICT index closed flat. Investor sentiment strengthened as market breadth (advance/decline ratio) improved to 0.9x from the 0.3x recorded in the previous trading session as 18 stocks advanced relative to 21 decliners.
The top five gainers were Union Bank, Law Union and Rock Insurance Plc, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc, Chemicals and Allied Products Plc and Linkage Assurance, whose respective share prices gained 9.8 per cent, 9.5 per cent, 9.1 per cent, 8.8 per cent and 8.8 per cent.
Conoil, Nascon Allied Industries, 11 Plc, C & I Leasing Plc and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc led the losers table as their share prices dropped by 10 per cent, 10 per cent, 9.9 per cent, 9.5 per cent and 8.3 per cent respectively.
https://punchng.com/investors-lose-n791bn-as-sell-offs-persist/
