Sell Pressure Persists on NGX Despite Positive GDP Report

By Dipo Olowookere

Despite the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealing over the weekend that the real gross domestic product (GDP) of Nigeria rose by 0.51 per cent in the first quarter of 2021, the stock market closed bearish on Monday with a 0.10 per cent loss.

This was caused by the sustained selloffs at the Nigeria Exchange (NGX) Limited, especially on some large and mid-cap equities like GTBank, Access Bank, AIICO, amongst others.

Business Post reports that during the session, the energy and industrial goods sectors appreciated by 0.21 per cent and 0.09 per cent respectively, while the insurance, banking and consumer goods counters depreciated by 0.75 per cent, 0.68 per cent and 0.68 per cent respectively.

ABC Transport was the worst-performing stock as it dropped 9.76 per cent to sell for 37 kobo, Enamelware lost 9.75 per cent to trade at N16.20, UACN Property went down by 8.43 per cent to 76 kobo, Jaiz Bank declined by 6.45 per cent to 58 kobo, while Courtville lost 4.76 per cent to close at 20 kobo.

The best-performing stock yesterday was Royal Exchange as it appreciated by 9.68 per cent to 68 kobo, Regency Alliance gained 8.82 per cent to close at 37 kobo, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance grew by 7.84 per cent to 55 kobo, Sovereign Trust Insurance gained 7.69 per cent to quote at 28 kobo, while Japaul rose by 7.55 per cent to 57 kobo.

On the activity chart, it was mixed on the first trading day of the new week as investors traded 141.2 million stocks worth N1.1 billion in 3,566 deals compared with the 174.3 million equities worth N2.0 billion traded in 2,581 deals at the last trading session.

Of these transactions, UACN Property accounted for 17.4 million units worth N13.3 million, FBN Holdings accounted for 11.3 million units valued at N81.3 million, Chams accounted for 7.9 million units worth N1.6 million, Fidelity Bank contributed 7.8 million units valued at N17.9 million, while Zenith Bank accounted for 7.2 million units worth N166.1 million.

When trading activities were concluded for the day by 2:30pm, the All-Share Index (ASI) was down by 36.49 points to 38,287.58 points from 38,324.07 points, while the market capitalisation was down by N19 billion to N19.956 trillion from N19.975 trillion.