Massive sell-off depresses stock market indices by N294b in four days

Tensions ahead of the 2019 polls have continued to take its toll on the equities sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as investors’ wealth depreciates by N294 billion in four days amid massive dumping of shares.

Specifically, the market capitalization which stood at N11.688 trillion when the market reopened for the week on Monday, depreciated by N294 billion or 2.6 per cent to N11.394 trillion yesterday. Also the All-share index lost 787.04 points from 31, 426.63 to 30,557.20.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said: “Following yesterday’s losses, we expect some bargain hunting in bellwethers to drive performance in subsequent trading sessions.”

Analysts at Cordros Capital Limited said: “The absence of a positive catalyst and political concerns ahead of the 2019 election guide our conservative outlook for equities in the short-to-medium term. However, stable macroeconomic fundamentals remain supportive of recovery in the long term.”

A breakdown of yesterday’s transactions showed that the downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Dangote Cement, Nigerian Breweries, Julius Berger, Stanbic IBTC Holdings and Unilever Nigeria.

Market breadth closed negative with 10 gainers against 32 losers. Sunu Assurance and McNichols recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each, to close at 22 kobo and 33 kobo, respectively, while, Learn Africa followed with a gain of 8.73 per cent, to close at N1.37, per share.

Vitaform Nigeria appreciated by 6.67 per cent to close at N4.80, while Wema Bank went up by 4.84 per cent to close at 65 kobo, per share. On the other hand, Red Star Express led the losers’ chart by 9.09 per cent, to close at N5, per share. First Aluminium followed with a decline 8.54 per cent to close at 32 kobo, while Niger Insurance lost 8.33 per cent to close at 32 kobo, per share.

Honeywell Flour declined by 7.69 per cent to close at N1.20, while Julius Berger down by 7.14 per cent to close at N26, per share. Investors traded a total share volume of 349.31 million valued at N3.49 billion in 4,228 deals. United Bank for Africa traded with 123.71 million shares valued at N859.28 million.

Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) followed with 33.21 million shares worth N41.52 million, while Custodian Investment traded 32.91 million shares valued at N204.03 million.Zenith Bank traded 27.6 million shares valued at N633.29 million, while FBN Holdings transacted 19.83 million shares worth N145.8 million.