Despite regaining momentum yesterday from previous trading sessions’ downward trend, the Nigerian Exchange’s All Share Index NGXASI) resumed its downward trend on Wednesday, declining by 0.49%, thus leading to N444.32 billion loss to investors at the end of the day’s trading session.
With the ugly trend in the local bourse’s trading largely driven by losses in BUACEMENT, WAPCO, NB, among others, the total market capitalization dipped to N90.99 trillion.
However, data from the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) on the day’s market activity indicated that the volume and value traded surged by 32.77% and 90.25%, respectively, with 738.34 million units exchanging hands for N35.53 billion across 19,908 deals.
Similarly, the market breadth remained marginally positive at 1.07x, slightly lower than Tuesday’s trading session’s 1.30x, as 29 listed entities recorded gains compared to 27 losers.
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As expected, the slight shift in the NGX ASI reflected in sectoral performance during the day’s trading, resulting in a mixed result across the five sectors, with three sectors closing in the green, while two ended in the red.
An analysis of the sectoral performance showed that the Industrial Goods index led the losers, weighed by declines in BUACEMENT and WAPCO cement stocks; followed by the Consumer Goods index, which dipped by 1.33% due to sell-offs in CADBURY (-9.92%), INTBREW (-8.33%), NB (-3.65%), and HONYFLOUR (-5%). This loss by the sector came even as CHAMPION, which is currently on a rights issue gained 3.79% to close at N13.70 per share
On the positive side, the Insurance index emerged as the day’s top performer, buoyed by strong gains in AIICO (10%), PRESTIGE (7.38%), MANSARD (6.83%), and GUINEAINS (3.60%) just as the Banking index sustained its upward momentum for the second straight session, due to advances in ZENITHBANK, ACCESSCORP, UBA, FIRSTHOLDCO, among others. Similarly, the Oil & Gas index closed in the green, up by 0.14% on the back of OANDO’s 2.56% appreciation.
According to the NGX data, broadly, the market remained in a downward trend as the current ASI level at 143,064.57 was below the 7-day MA (143,997.78), 20-day MA (147,347.46), and 50-day MA (147,015.84), reinforcing the sustained bearish momentum.
