The Nigerian Stock Exchange declined marginally on the second day of trading this week, shading 30.75 points (-0.07%) on Tuesday to close at 41,051.63 points. The market capitalization also declined by 0.07%, shading N16.084 billion to close at N21.474 trillion.
In what is new sounding like a new normal, the Insurance stocks continued their unprecedented rise. The Insurance Index advanced by 6.29%, as Insurance stocks accounted for 17 out of the 26 stocks that enjoyed the maximum gain possible in a single day’s trading.
All our highflyers except JAPAULGOLD achieved maximum gains. JAPAULGOLD on the other hand endured the maximum lose possible, as Investors dumped the stock to catch in their profits.
JAPAULGOLD share price suffered a 9.86% loss to close at N1.28. A screenshot of live trading activities on the stock shows the extent of the sell pressure. A 180 degrees reversal of what was obtainable in the previous week, over 67 million shares of JAPAULGOLD were put on sell at the minimum price allowable.
Fig 1: Live market trading session of JAPAULGOLD
Following its consecutive decline, we are drawing the conclusion that JAPAULGOLD has ran its race, and will therefore be removing it from our highflyers tracker.
CHAMPION shares gained 9.63% to close at N1.48, in the past 1 month, the stock has 72.09%.
TRANSCORP shares gained 9.35% to close at N1.17, the stock is 19.39% over 1 week, and up 30.00% over the course of 1 month.
MBENEFIT shares gained 8.70% to close at N0.50, the stock is up by 19.05% over the course of a week, and 85.19% over the course of 1 month.
REGALINS shares gained 8.33% to close at N0.39, up by 18.18% over a week and by 77.27% over the last month.
ROYALEX shares gained 8.11% to close at N0.40, up by 17.65% over the week, and by 53.85% in the past one month.
Activity level
Activity level was mixed as volume of shares traded decreased by 28.91%, while the value of shares of increased by 27.90%. 525.006 million shares valued at N5.337 billion was traded in 5,965 deals.
LIVINGTRUST was the most traded equity by volume, with 387.750 million units valued at N232.650 million exchanging hands in just 3 trades.
TRANSCORP and JAPAULGOLD were the second and third most traded stocks by volume, with 42.940 million and 39.588 million shares respectively.
BUACEMENT shares were the most traded by value, with shares worth N2.048 billion exchanging hands in 48 deals. ZENITHBANK and GUARANTY were the second and third most traded shares by value with shares worth N745.993 million and N348.848 million respectively traded in a combined 680 deals.
Performance of Indices
3 of the 5 indices under our watch closed in red, with only two advancing;
- Insurance Index advanced by 6.29% on the back of sustained demand for insurance stocks
- Consumer Goods Index advanced by 0.56% following gains in NB (+1.7%) and FLOURMILL (+3.2%)
- Industrial Goods Index declined by 0.36%, as Investors booked profits in BUACEMENT (-1.1%)
- Oil and Gas Index declined by 0.46%, weighed down by ARDOVA (-8.6%) and OANDO (-0.3%)
- Banking Index declined by 0.73%, as a result of loses in ACCESS (-3.7%) and UBA (-2.2%)
Investor Sentiment
Investor Sentiment as measured by market breadth strengthened to 2.2x from the 1.7x recorded previously as 43 stocks advanced against 20 decliners.
Top 5 gainers by percentage are;
- AFROMEDIA gained 10.00% to close at N0.22
- GUINEAINS gained 10.00% to close at N0.22
- NEM gained 10.00% to close N2.53
- PRESTIGE gained 10.00% to close at N0.55
- UNIONDAC gained 10.00% to close at N0.33
Top 5 losers by percentage are;
- JAPAULGOLD lost 9.86% to close at N1.28
- ARDOVA lost 8.63% to close at N18.00
- HONYFLOUR lost 8.33% to close at N1.10
- FTNCOCOA lost 8.33% to close at N0.66
- CHAMS lost 6.67% to close at N0.28
Outlook
We maintain our expectation that the market will reverse course in subsequent trading sessions in the week.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur