Selloffs in MTN, Airtel Drag NGX down by N622bn

The equities segment of the Nigeria Exchange (NGX) bleeds heavily on Monday, losing N622 billion over sustained profit taking on large capitalised telecom company stocks.

The market experienced sell pressures on MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa which triggered the biggest single-day loss since 19 October 2022 when the market lost 2.3%, according to stockbrokers.

The All-Share Index (ASI) fell by 1,141.76 points, representing a decline of 2.08 per cent, to close at 53,750.77 points as against the 54,892.53 posted on Friday.

Consequently, the ASI’s year-to-date (YTD) return fell to 4.88 per cent. The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Airtel Africa, Seplat Energy, MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN), Nigerian Breweries and Lafarge Africa.

The market breadth was negative as 21 stocks lost relative to five gainers. Courteville Business Solutions recorded the highest price gain of 6.67 per cent to close at 48k per share.

NPF Microfinance Bank followed with a gain of 2.7 per cent to close at N1.90 and AIICO Insurance up by 1.75 per cent to close at 58k per share. FBN Holdings (FBNH) rose by 0.92 per cent to close at N11, while Zenith Bank gained 0. 2 per cent to close at N25 per share.

Conversely, NCR Nigeria led the losers’ chart by 9.79 per cent to close at N2.12, per share.

Unity Bank followed with a decline of 9.43 per cent to close at 48k, while Prestige Assurance declined by 8.89 per cent to close at 41k, per share.

SUNU Assurance declined 8.33 per cent to close at 44k, while Multiverse Mining and Exploration and Airtel Africa shed 8.31 per cent each to close at N2.98 and N1,420 respectively per share.

Also, the total volume traded decreased by 26.66 per cent to 100.883 million units, valued at N4.342 billion and exchanged in 3,279 deals. Transactions in the shares of Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) topped the activity chart with 12.836 million shares valued at N318.513 million.

Zenith Bank followed with 11.920 million shares worth N297.982 million, while United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 10.038 million shares valued at N80.242 million. MTNN traded 8.264 million shares valued at N1.927 billion, while FBNH transacted 7.719 million shares worth N84.577 million.

Sectoral performance was broadly negative. The Oil & Gas index declined by 2.0%, the Consumer Goods index fell by 0.9%, Insurance index lost 0.6%. Also, the Banking sloped downward by 0.2% and Industrial Goods dropped by 0.1%.

Overall, today’s loss dragged stock market capitalisation to N29.281 trillion from N29.903 trillion recorded in the previous session. # Selloffs in MTN, Airtel Drag NGX down by N622bn.