Market reroutes south as Union Bank, NGX Group, Flour Mills top laggards

Nigeria’s equities market on Wednesday rerouted south, recording its second decline this week after last Monday’s dip, as investors revisit their wait-and-see approach to stocks.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s inaugural address on May 29 had sparked the equity market’s imagination and activated the buy-side activities on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).

“The announcement of key market reforms, including phasing out fuel subsidies and unifying foreign exchange (FX) rates, shows that pro-market policies were not just items in the manifesto but issues which he is setting out to fix. If they are fixed, we expect much more from the equity market,” analysts at Lagos-based Coronation research had said.

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At the close of trading session on Wednesday, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and its equities Market Capitalisation – decreased by 0.02 percent or N7billion, from preceding trading day’s 56,038.85points and N30.513trillion to 56,025.56 points and N30.506trillion.

Stocks like NPF Microfinance Bank, GTCO, Japaul Gold, Fidelity Bank and Access Corporation were actively traded as investors in 5,613 deals exchanged 397,624,810 shares valued at N6.537billion.

Specifically, the bullish sentiment seen in the oil and gas marketing stocks moderated as investor optimism in that space started to falter. Stocks like Union Bank, Flour Mills of Nigeria, NGX Group, Prestige Assurance and Courteville Business Solutions topped the sell-side of the bourse.

Union Bank moved down most from N7.90 to N7.20, losing 70kobo or 8.86percent. Flour Mills decreased from N34.55 to N33.10, losing N1.45 or 4.20percent, while NGX Group dropped from N28.90 to N28, shedding 90kobo or 3.11percent.