The Nigerian Exchange reported a decline in the All-Share Index by 0.05% on Thursday, marking five consecutive days of bearish trends, primarily due to sell-offs in Zenith Bank and Access Holdings. Market capitalisation fell to N65.75 trillion, reflecting diminished investor sentiment with only 14 advancing stocks against 28 decliners. Trading activities were notably subdued, with significant decreases in transaction volume and value.
On Thursday, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) concluded its trading session with the All-Share Index down by 0.05 percent, resulting in a total of 104,858.77 basis points. This marks the fifth consecutive day of declines, primarily driven by sell-offs in Zenith Bank and Access Holdings, which contributed to a cumulative drop of 0.1 percent.
Market capitalisation also experienced a decline of 0.05 percent, settling at N65.75 trillion, signifying a loss of N35.3 billion in equities by the end of the trading day. Consequently, Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns fell to -2.8 percent and +1.9 percent, respectively.
Investor sentiment appeared weak as indicated by a negative market breadth; 14 stocks advanced while 28 declined. Among the day’s gainers were Computer Warehouse Group, Veritas Capital, Deap Capital Management and Trust, Wapic Insurance, and Wema Bank. Conversely, Livestock Feeds, Royal Exchange, Custodian Insurance, UACN Property Development Company, and Chams topped the list of losers.
Sector performance was largely subdued. The Insurance and Consumer Goods sectors saw minor gains of 0.13 percent and 0.39 percent, respectively, while the Banking sector recorded a decline of 0.43 percent. Other sectors, including Oil/Gas, Industrial Goods, and Commodities, were stagnant, showing no change at 0 percent.
Trading activity reflected a downturn, with declines recorded in the number of deals, transaction volume, and transaction value by 15.23 percent, 77.28 percent, and 49.51 percent, respectively. The session concluded with 10,182 transactions amounting to N6.25 billion and 310.53 million units traded. Fidelity Bank emerged as the most traded stock by volume at 40.03 million units, while Zenith Bank led in value at N1.07 billion.
In summary, the Nigerian equities market continues to exhibit bearish trends, evident from the decline in the All-Share Index for five consecutive days. With low investor sentiment reflected through the weak market breadth and negative performance across most sectors, the outlook remains cautious. Both market capitalisation and trading activities have notably decreased, indicating a challenging trading environment for investors.
Original Source: www.zawya.com
