NGX Slumps as Investors’ Switched Trade Direction

Following a late switch in market direction, the equities segment of the Nigerian Exchange, NGX, slid Thursday over selloffs in a number of, banking and Insurance companies’ shares after three days of rallies.

The decline occurred following a quarterly report that indicates that the Nigerian insurance sector expanded in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2022.

Today’s sell-down was driven by weaker investment as investors weigh Nigeria’s rising inflation and increased benchmark interest rate.

Consequently, the Nigerian Exchange’s key performance indicators worsened while year to date performance of the local bourse moderated.

Data from the local bourse shows that market performance indicators dropped slightly by -0.02%. Also, the exchange’s year-to-date return moderated to 7.17% as first quarter inched to a close.

Specifically, the Nigerian Exchange All-Share Index reduced by 12.03 basis points today, representing a slight decrease of -0.02% to close at 54,924.08 points.

Stockbrokers at Atlass Portfolios Limited said in a market brief that trading activities were mixed. Total volume traded dropped by -12.15%, while total value traded for the day grew by +5.13%.

According to a market report, approximately 117.85 million units valued at ₦1,398.78 million were transacted in 2,575 deals. TRANSCORP was the most traded stock in terms of volume, accounting for 19.86% of the total volume of trades, Atlass Portfolios stockbrokers said in a market note.

The company stock was followed by FIDELITYBK (14.39%), FBNH (11.09%), ROYALEX (7.80%), and UBA (7.64%) to complete the top 5 on the volume chart, MTN Nigeria (Ticker: MTNN) was the most traded stock in value terms, with 26.47% of the total value of trades on the local exchange.

SUNUASSUR topped the advancers’ chart with a price appreciation of 9.09 per cent, trailed by TRANSCOHOT (8.32%), ACADEMY (7.50%), REGALINS (7.14%), ABCTRANS (5.71%), and eight (8) others.

Seventeen stocks depreciated, where NCR was the top loser, with a price depreciation of -9.96%. Trading data shows that LINKASSURE lost 8.70%, MANSARD went down by 7.50%, ROYALEX fell by 4.17% and STERLNBANK dropped by 3.25%.

Based on the trading pattern seen in the Lagos bourse today, the market breadth closed negative, recording 14 gainers and 17 losers.

The bearish trend was also seen across subsectors tracked as the NGX Banking, NGX Insurance, and NGX Consumer Goods indexes, moderated by 0.45%, 0.42%, and 0.04%, respectively.

The NGX Oil/Gas and NGX Industrial indices, on the other hand, remained unchanged from the previous trading day.

Overall, the stock market capitalisation lost ₦6.55 billion, representing a marginal decline of -0.02% to close at ₦29,920.52 trillion from ₦29,927.07 trillion the previous day. #NGX Slumps as Investors’ Switched Trade Direction.