9th September, 2024
The Nigerian equity market opened the week with a loss of N111 billion, coinciding with the supplementary listing of eight billion ordinary shares of Japaul Gold and Ventures Plc.
The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX), which started at N55.394 trillion, shed N111 billion, closing at N55.283 trillion.
Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) dropped by 0.24%, or 228 points, to settle at 96,205.84 points, down from Friday’s 96,433.54 points. This brought the Year-to-Date (YTD) return to a negative 28.66%.
Despite the overall market decline, market breadth was positive, with 34 stocks advancing against 20 losers. Key drivers of the market’s downturn included Transnational Power and Tier-one banks such as Zenith Bank and Access Corporation.
On the gainers’ side, Eterna and Tantalizers led the charge, each rising by 10% to close at N33 and 77k per share, respectively.
Oando followed closely, gaining 9.95% to close at N89.50, while FTN Cocoa and UACN posted gains of 9.93% and 9.81%, closing at N1.66 and N22.95 per share, respectively.
Conversely, Julius Berger topped the losers’ table, shedding 10% to close at N153.45, followed by Transpower, which lost 9.99% to finish at N310.70 per share. McNichols, UPL, and Cutix also recorded losses, declining by 9.40%, 8.99%, and 6%, respectively.
Market activity surged, with trade turnover rising by 21.82%. Investors traded 774.38 million shares worth N14.65 billion in 10,412 deals, compared to the previous session’s 392.51 million shares valued at N12.02 billion in 7,981 deals.
Jaiz Bank led the volume charts with 247.04 million shares, while Zenith Bank topped in value, trading N6.42 billion worth of shares.
Looking ahead, analysts at Cowry Asset Management Ltd. expect mixed sentiments to dominate market activities as investors engage in position-taking and portfolio reshuffling in anticipation of the half-year results of interim dividend-paying banks.
They also noted signs of recovery in the NGX, advising investors to focus on fundamentally sound stocks.
