Equities Market Sinks as Investors Exit Positions

After the stock market lose N1 trillion in April, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) opened negative in May 2023 due to early exit transactions conducted by sell-side investors.

In total, equities market capitalisation slumped by about N57 billion despite earnings releases by listed companies in the Lagos bourse. Today’s trading performance halted seven consecutive bullish run, thus key performance indicators nosedived while stockbrokers advised investors to cherry picks value and growth counters.

Data show that year-to-date return moderated to 2.05% following a decline in NGX All-Share Index.  Thus, the NGX ASI settled at 52,296.48 points. According to trading records, market activities were down, as the total volume and total value traded for today reduced by -82.41% and -60.59% respectively.

Atlass Portfolios Limited stockbrokers said approximately 550.29 million units valued at ₦5,150.49 million were transacted in 6,250 deals. ACCESSCORP was the most traded stock in terms of volume, accounting for 35.87% of the total volume of trades.

To complete the top 5 on the volume chart, the ticker was followed by MANSARD (10.01%), WAPIC (6.95%), FIDELITYBK (4.80%), and UBA (4.36%). Likewise, ACCESSCORP was also the most traded stock in value terms, with 33.12% of the total value of trades on the exchange.

CONOIL and UBN jointly topped the advancers’ chart with a price appreciation of 10 percent, trailed by MULTIVERSE (9.71%), NAHCO (9.62%), NB (+9.38%), and WEMABANK (+7.89%), and twenty-four others.

Thirty stocks depreciated, where GEREGU was the top loser, with a price depreciation of -10.00% to close at ₦290.7, as TRANSCORP (-9.96%), AFRIPRUD (-9.40%), INTBREW (-8.51%), and IKEJAJHOTEL (-6.85%) also dipped in price.

NGX record shows that the market breadth closed positive, recording 30 gainers and 24 losers.

Nevertheless, the market sector performance closed positive, as four of the five major market sectors were up, led by the Banking sector (+2.84%), trailed by the Insurance sector (+1.25%), the Oil & Gas sector (+1.05%), and the Consumer goods sector (+0.31%).

The Industrial sector dropped by -0.08%. Overall, equities market capitalisation lost 56.78 billion, representing a fall of +0.20% to close at ₦28,477.12 trillion from ₦28,533.90 trillion last Friday.