Equities Investors Lose N246bn As Oil, Insurance, Banking Stocks Fall
Yinka Olajoyetan, Lagos
Equities investors lost about N246 billion as oil stocks retreated due to profit-taking actions of the sell-side traders in the local bourse.
Oil index led the losers chart, followed by insurance and banking indices in the midst of the third quarter earnings release.
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) index declined by 25 basis points, and year-to-date gains moderated to 49.37% at the beginning of the week.
NGX market capitalisation shrank by ₦245.88 billion to ₦97.58 trillion on the back of negative sentiment that resulted in 38 declining stocks, 19 gainers, producing a weak 0.5x advance-decline ratio.
UNIONDICON, OMATEK, NAHCO, INTBREW, and CHAMPIONS led price appreciation, while HONYFLOUR, NNFM, ARADEL, JAPAULGOLD, and IKEJAHOTEL experienced the most significant value destruction.
Equities investors’ traded with all cautiousness, reflecting mixed reactions to Q3 earnings release – which painted a negative outlook for banking players. Therefore, the market index or All-Share Index fell by – 368.77 basis points, indicating a -0.24% decline to close at 153,739.11.
Total volume of all trades consummated and the total value traded dipped by -87.94% and 44.64% respectively. Stockbrokers reported that approximately 627.50 million units valued at ₦25,000.28 million were transacted across 34,425 deals.
As regards volume, UBA took the lead as it accounts for 21.83% of the total volume traded, followed by ASOSAVINGS (17.38%), ACCESSCORP (10.87%), GTCO (7.95%), and ZENITHBANK with 5.07%.
In terms of value traded, UBA also emerged as the most traded after generating 22.18% of the total value traded on the exchange.
In addition, UNIONDICON led the best performers’ chart with a price appreciation of 9.93%, closely followed by OMATEK (+9.92%), NAHCO (+7.62%), INTBREW (+6.35%), CHAMPION (+6.33%), ETRANZACT (+4.33%), and thirteen others.
A total of thirty-eight stocks ended on negative note due to downbeat investors’ sentiment HONYFLOUR topped the decliners chart, down by -10.00%, then trailed by NNFM (-9.98%), ARADEL (-9.21%), JAPAULGOLD (-7.95%), IKEJAHOTEL (-7.71%), and CAVERTON (-7.34%).
Hence, the market breadth closed on a negative note as there were only 19 gainers and 38 losers. Sectoral performance was mixed: Oil & Gas (-3.94%), Commodity (-1.85%), Insurance (-1.48%), and Banking (-0.22%) recorded capital erosion, while Consumer Goods gained 0.49%. The Industrial sector closed flat.
Trading dynamics were divergent as turnover volume plummeted 87.94% to 627.5 million shares and transaction values declined 44.64% to ₦25 billion, yet deal count surged 19.04% to 36,425, suggesting elevated retail participation amid reduced institutional liquidity and strategic repositioning
