In Tuesday’s trading session on the Nigerian Exchange, banking stocks endured sell-offs which ultimately reversing the gains of Monday. The benchmark index declined by 0.03% to close at 39,305.48 points.
Investors lost N6.8bn as the market capitalization fell to N20.5 trillion.
Banking stocks made up 50% of companies on the losers table. ZENITHBANK, GUARANTY, FBNH, UBA, ACCESS, ETI, STERLNBANK and NPFMCRFBK all recorded loses on the day.
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Activity level
The activity level was weak as both volume and value fell on Tuesday. While the volume of traded stocks fell by 23.4% and 13.9% to 252.6m units and N1.8bn respectively.
The most traded stocks by volume were ACCESS, TRANSCORP and FIDELITYBK with 57.1m, 30.8m and 29.4m units of shares respectively.
GUARANTY, ACCESS and ZENITHBANK were the most traded stocks by value, with shares worth N496.4mn, N410.1mn and 328.0m respectively exchanging hands.
Index Performance
All indices under our watch except for banking index closed positively on the day.
The Insurance Index led the other indices, advancing by 1.0% due to price appreciation in PRESTIGE (+9.5%) and MANSARD (+1.1%).
Gains in ARDOVA (+5.5%) propelled the Oil & Gas Index to 0.2% gain, while the Consumer Goods Index appreciated by 0.03% thanks to gains in CHAMPION (+7.5%).
Industrial Index also recorded 0.02% gains as WAPCO (+0.2%) continued its upward movement.
Investor Sentiment
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (gainers/losers ratio) dropped marginally to 1.4x from the 1.5x recorded in the previous session as 23 stocks advanced against 16 decliners.
PRESTIGE (+9.52%), WEMABANK (+8.77%), ROYALEX (+7.69%) and CHAMPION (+7.46%) were the top gainers.
CHIPLC (-9.09%), UPL (-8.59%), CHAMS (-4.55%) HONYFLOUR (-4.44%) and STERLNBANK (-4.38%) were the top losers.
Analyst’s Outlook
We expect the week to be dominated by mixed performances, as the dividend season continues to play out, with Investors reshuffling their portfolios.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur
