Nigerian stock market daily report: 1.40% loss recorded as Investors take profit

The Nigerian Exchange’s equities market suffered its first loss in 2024 dipping by 1.40% as profit-taking took hold on Wednesday.

After six days of consecutive gains in 2024, Wednesday’s trading session began on a similar bullish footing, but turned bearish about an hour into the session as Investors began taking profits off the back of the gains recorded so far in the year.

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Most of the company stocks that were sitting on maximum gains earlier reverted to maximum loses as selling pressures spread through multiple counters.

Several stocks tried to stage a recovery, but another wave of selling pressure knocked them back into maximum loses, where most of them closed for the day.

By the end of trading on Wednesday, ₦638 billion has been wiped off Investors’ wealth.

The bench-mark NGX All-Share Index lost 1.40% to close the day at 82,024.38 points, while the equities market capitalization lost by the same percentage points to close at ₦44.885 trillion.

Activity Level

The activity level improved further on Wednesday with the volume of shares traded, value of shares traded and the no of deals done increasing by 16.41%, 2.82 and 17.96% respectively.

By the end of trading on Wednesday, 1.64 billion shares valued at ₦25.37 billion had exchanged hands in 20,223 deals.

Shares of Transnational Corporation Plc (NGX: TRANSCORP), Access Holdings Plc (NGX: ACCESSCORP) and Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc (NGX: STERLINGNG) were the most traded stocks by volume with 117.63 million, 116.64 million and 116.29 million shares respectively.

Shares of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (NGX: GTCO), Access Holdings Plc (NGX: ACCESSCORP) and Zenith Bank Plc (NGX: ZENITHBANK) were the most traded by value, with their shares worth ₦3.28 billion, ₦3.25 billion and ₦2.46 billion respectively exchanging hands on Wednesday.

Top gainers and losers

Investor sentiment weakened to 0.2x as only 13 stocks advanced against 62 stocks that declined on Monday.

The top five gainers were;

Cadbury Nigeria Plc (NGX: CADBURY): It gained 9.92% to close at ₦19.95.
Veritas Kapital Plc (NGX: VERITASKAP): It gained 9.76% to close at ₦0.45.
Linkage Assurance Plc (NGX: LINKASSURE): It gained 8.7% to close at ₦1.50.
Transcorp Hotel Plc (NGX: TRANSCOHOT): It gained 7.24% to close at N100.00.
Prestige Assurance Plc (NGX: PRESTIGE): It gained 10% to close at ₦0.53.

The top five losers on Wednesday were;

FTN Cocoa Processors Plc (NGX: FTNCOCOA): It lost 10% to close at ₦1.98.
Caverton Offshore Support Group Plc (NGX: CAVERTON): It lost 10% to close at ₦2.07.
May and Baker Plc (NGX: MAYBAKER): It lost 10% to close at ₦5.49.
Chams Plc (NGX: CHAMS): It lost 10% to close at ₦2.16.
Cornerstone Insurance Plc (NGX: CORNERSTONE): It lost 10% to close at ₦1.80.

Two of the five indices under our watch closed positively, while the other three closed in red.

Banking Index: The index lost 7.97% to close at 1,006.99 points, as almost all banking stocks suffered maximum loses. Year to Date, the index has advanced by 12.24%.
Industrial Index: The industrial index gained 1.39% to close at 2,940.06 points, pulled by the gains booked on DANGCEM counter. Year to Date, the index has advanced by 8.40%.
Consumer Goods Index: The index advanced by 2.45% to settle at 1,248.61 points, as BUAFOODS and CADBURY recorded gains on the day. Year to Date, the index has advanced by 11.35%.
Oil & Gas Index: It lost 0.40% to close at 1,051.14 points, pulled by loses in ETERNA. Year to Date, the index has advanced by 0.77%.
Insurance Index: it lost 6.12% to close at 389.49 points, as just like banking stocks, most Insurance stocks suffered maximum loses. Year to Date, the index has advanced by 21.09%.