NGX Records First Loss in 2023, Down 1.53% as Investors Book Profit

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited recorded its first decline in 2023 as profit-taking in Airtel Africa and some other stocks weakened the key performance indicators by 1.53 per cent at the close of business.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) was down by 789.04 points as it settled at 50,868.52 points compared with the previous day’s 51,657.56 points, while the market capitalisation shed N430 billion to finish at N27.707 trillion compared with Wednesday’s N28.137 trillion.

The local stock exchange had maintained an upward trajectory for a while until yesterday’s selling pressure, which punctured the continuous inflation.

However, investor sentiment remained strong, Business Post observed, as the market breadth ended positive, with 20 price gainers and 16 price losers.

Prestige Assurance suffered the heaviest loss as its value went down by 8.70 per cent to 42 Kobo, Airtel Africa deflated by 8.26 per cent to N1,500.00, University Press declined by 7.37 per cent to N1.76, NPF Microfinance Bank lost 7.10 per cent to trade at N1.57, and Royal Exchange fell by 6.36 per cent to N1.03.

Conversely, John Holt closed the trading day on top of the gainers’ chart after it chalked up 10.00 per cent to settle at 88 Kobo, Honeywell Flour expanded by 9.95 per cent to N2.43, CWG garnered 9.78 per cent to trade at N1.01, UAC Nigeria grew by 4.88 per cent to N10.75, and Nigerian Breweries rose by 4.21 per cent to N47.00.

Analysis of the performance of the key sectors of the exchange showed that the insurance counter depreciated by 0.97 per cent, while the industrial goods space closed flat, with the consumer goods, banking and energy sectors appreciating by 1.33 per cent, 0.88 per cent, and 0.09 per cent, respectively.

As for the activity log, it was in the red yesterday due to the decline in the trading volume, value and the number of deals by 47.80 per cent, 86.67 per cent, and 11.62 per cent, respectively.

This was because investors transacted a total of 138.7 million equities valued at N1.8 billion in 3,673, in contrast to the 265.7 million equities worth N13.5 billion traded in 4,156 deals in the midweek session.

Sterling Bank recorded the highest turnover after exchanging 29.2 million units, followed by GTCO with 20.0 million units, Access Holdings with 11.4 million units, FBN Holdings with 11.0 million units, and Zenith Bank with 6.3 million units.