• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Market-wide sell off persists on Nigerian Bourse

Nigeria Stock Exchange

The spate at which investors are selling-off their stocks on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) should be a source of concern. The market-wide sell-offs seen lately follow the recently concluded general elections and almost concluded corporate earnings season. The persisting negatives have now created murky outlook for the direction of the market.

The equity market kicked off this week in the red as the All Share Index (ASI) continued to trade below the 30,000 mark. It declined by 1.53percent and stood at 29,162.24 points at the close of trading on Monday April 8; as against preceding week high of 29,616.38 points.

In a session characterized by sell-offs across the board, the value of listed equities decreased from N11.124 trillion to N10.953trillion, representing a loss of about N171billion. The year-to-date (ytd) returns stood further negative at -7.22percent.

Stock traders in 3,993 deals, exchanged 455,875,448 units valued at N5.257billion. Sterling Bank Plc, GTBank Plc, Tripple Gee & Co Plc, Zenith Bank and Access Bank Plc were actively traded stocks.

Zenith Bank Plc announced the appointment of Ebenezer Onyeagwu as Group Managing Director/Chief Executive of the Company with effect from June 1, 2019 subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Onyeagwu replaces Peter Amangbo, whose tenure expires on May 31, 2019.

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Also, Fidelity Bank Plc announced the appointments of Gbolahan Joshua, Obaro Odeghe and Hassan Imam as Executive Directors. Their appointments by the Board of Directors of the bank at the meeting held on Tuesday March 19, 2019 is subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Thirteen (13) stocks gained as against 29 losers. Dangote Cement Plc led the basket of losers after its price declined from N189 to N185.5, losing N3.5 or 1.85percent. Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc followed after declining from N46.25 to N43.2, down by N3.05 or 6.59percent. Guinness Nigeria Plc followed after its share price dropped from N62.45 to N60 , losing N2.45 or 3.92percent.

Also, GTBank Plc declined from N35 to N34, losing N1 or 2.86percent; while Union Bank of Nigeria Plc was also down from N7 to N6.5, after losing 50kobo or 7.14percent. Meanwhile, Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc advanced from N170 to N171, adding N1 or 0.59percent; while Eterna Plc followed from N4 to N4.25, adding 25kobo or 6.25percent.

In their April 8 note on what shapes the market today, Vetiva analysts said: “As market-wide sell-offs persist, with no significant catalyst to the rescue, market will likely trade the same in the same pattern we have seen in previous session.”

“We are also not ruling out bargain hunters coming into the market as we continue to see valuations get better on decent counters. It is noteworthy to say that the All Share Index (ASI) has not spent an extended period (more than two sessions) below the 30,000 level since 2017, however we may see a longer stay below this mark in the coming sessions”, Vetiva analysts added.

Iheanyi Nwachukwu