Economy
Equities Market Loses N125b on Profit Taking after Last Session’s N39b Gain
By Dipo Olowookere
The first trading session of this week ended bearish on Monday as the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) went down by 0.84 percent at the close of business, reducing the Year-to-Date (YtD) returns to 6.37 percent.
This was caused by profit taking in large cap stocks like Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank, Nestle Nigeria and others.
Business Post reports that the loss occurred after the market had closed on a positive note for the first time last week on Friday, gaining 0.26 percent.
When market activities were wrapped up yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 344.7 points to finish at 40,677.61 points, while the market capitalisation reduced by N125 billion to settle at N14.735 trillion.
Also, the market breadth ended negative on Monday with 32 price losers and 11 price gainers, while all sectors except the oil and gas finished negative.
The Consumer Goods industry was the heaviest loser after going down by 1.55 percent, Insurance went down by 1.74 percent, Banking declined by 0.44 percent, while the Industrial Goods index fell by 0.25 percent. This was caused by profit taking in shares of Nestle Nigeria, which lost 3.16 percent; Custodian and Allied, which dropped 3.65 percent; Zenith Bank, which reduced by 0.52 percent; and Dangote Cement, which crashed by 0.61 percent respectively.
However, the Oil & Gas index appreciated by 0.01 percent as a result of buying interest in equities of Eterna, which rose by 1.01 percent yesterday.
At the close of transactions, Nestle Nigeria topped the losers’ table, decreasing by N50 to settle at N1530 per share.
Okomu Oil went down by N4.50k to close at N85.50k per share, while Nigerian Breweries dropped N2.50k to end at N122 per share.
Dangote Cement lost N1.50k yesterday to finish at N243.50k per share, while Oando declined by 40k to close at N7.75k per share.
At the other side, Caverton emerged the biggest price gainer after adding 13k to its share value to close at N2.74k per share.
Fidson followed with 11k added to its share price to end at N5.49k per share, and Cutix, which rose by 10k to finish at N3.15k per share.
FCMB increased on Monday by 9k to settle at N2.63k per share, while Eterna grew by 7k to finish at N7 per share.
The volume of equities traded by investors increased yesterday by 1.95 percent, however, the value of shares sold depreciated by 47.32 percent.
A total of 218.8 million shares exchanged hands on Monday in 4,109 deals worth N2.2 billion in contrast to 214.6 million equities transacted last Friday in 3,675 deals valued at N4.2 billion.
A breakdown showed that shares in the Financial Services sector dominated the activity chart yesterday with a total of 170 million units sold for N1.3 billion, while those in the Services came second with 12.5 million shares traded for N51 million.
A further breakdown showed that UBA was investors’ toast at the market with a total of 60.5 million shares sold for N706.6 million.
It was trailed by FCMB, which traded 17.5 million equities for N45.7 million, and Soverign Trust Insurance, which exchanged 12.4 million shares valued at N2.5 million.
FBN Holdings sold 11.9 million units worth N143.1 million, while Fidelity Bank exchanged 10.5 million equities at N25.3 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed flat on Wednesday, August 5, as the market witnessed weaker trading activity with only two deals executed.
In the midweek session, the volume of securities exchanged by investors dropped 99.9 per cent to 802 units from the 1.6 million units recorded on Tuesday. The value of securities further decreased by 99.6 per cent to N208,240 from the preceding session’s N47.6 million, and the number of deals significantly went down by 93.9 per cent to two deals from the 33 deals recorded a day earlier.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 76.9 million units transacted for N5.5 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
There were no price gainers or losers yesterday.
As a result, the market capitalisation stood unmoving at N2.739 trillion, while the NASD Security Index (NSI) remained unchanged at 4,563.96 points.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira slid against the US Dollar by N2.28 or 0.17 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Wednesday, August 5, to N1,363.85/$1 from N1,362.55/$1.
The local currency also declined against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N5.97 to close at N1,837.38/£1 compared with Tuesday’s closing rate of N1,831.41/£1, and against the Euro, it crashed by N6.54 to quote at N1,575.25/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,568.71/€1.
But at the black market, the Nigerian Naira traded flat against the greenback yesterday at N1,400/$1, and also remained unchanged at the GTBank FX desk at N1,373/$1.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says rates have narrowed to below two per cent, while the country’s external reserves have risen above $52.5 billion, reflecting the impact of its ongoing monetary and foreign exchange reforms.
CBN Governor Yemi Cardoso, represented by the Acting Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations, Mrs Hakama Sidi-Ali, disclosed this on Tuesday during the CBN Fair in Gombe. He noted that reforms introduced since 2023 had significantly reduced the disparity between the official FX market and the parallel market.
“The Naira continues to strengthen, with the spread between official and Bureau de Change rates now below two per cent,” he said, adding that reserves at $52.5 billion were supported by sustained inflows and renewed investor confidence in the economy.
Interbank FX transactions slid as weaker market activities dropped total Dollar volume exchanged to $75.35 million, a 51.8 per cent decline from $156.23 million in turnover quoted at the previous close.
The deals at the NFEM window also fell as data from the central bank put Wednesday’s quote at 82 from 139.
In the cryptocurrency market, major were down as global risk sentiment softened as a key world equity index slipped and chipmakers fell.
The MSCI All Country World Index snapped a five-day run to fall 0.2 per cent as chipmakers retreated on both sides of the Pacific. South Korea’s Kospi, a bellwether for the AI trade, dropped 4.4 per cent.
Ripple (XRP) depleted by 1.7 per cent to $1.05, Binance Coin (BNB) decreased by 1.0 per cent to $594.87, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 0.9 per cent to $0.1884, TRON (TRX) shrank by 0.2 per cent to $0.3261, Solana (SOL) crumbled by 0.1 per cent to $74.00, and Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 0.1 per cent to $0.0697.
On the flip side, Ethereum (ETH) gained 2.3 per cent to trade at $1,911.41, and Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 0.8 per cent to $64,759.28, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
By Dipo Olowookere
The domestic stock exchange rebounded by 0.05 per cent on Wednesday on the back of renewed bargain-hunting by investors, though the level of activity waned.
After bleeding for a few days, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited heaved a sigh of relief yesterday, as the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 109.41 points to close at 244,912.24 points compared with the previous day’s 244,802.83 points, and the market capitalisation garnered N71 billion to settle at N158.087 trillion versus Tuesday’s N158.016 trillion.
Business Post reports that despite the rebound recorded by Customs Street at midweek, the market breadth index remained negative, as there were 20 price advancers and 29 price decliners, implying bearish investor sentiment.
Linkage Assurance appreciated by 9.94 per cent to N1.77, AVA Capital rose by 9.55 per cent to N10.90, Fortis Global Insurance advanced by 7.69 per cent to N2.80, McNichols gained 7.34 per cent to finish at N5.85, and Coronation Insurance surged by 5.51 per cent to N2.49.
Conversely, Honeywell Flour depreciated by 9.94 per cent to N16.30, PZ Cussons gave up 9.94 per cent to trade at N74.75, Zichis crashed by 9.74 per cent to N20.76, Learn Africa slipped by 9.62 per cent to N9.40, and Neimeth tumbled by 8.33 per cent to N8.25.
The busiest equity was FCMB, with a turnover of 369.2 million units valued at N4.1 billion. Chams transacted 46.7 million units worth N201.8 million, First Holdco transacted 43.5 million units for N5.7 billion, Access Holdings sold 29.8 million units worth N778.0 million, and Linkage Assurance exchanged 19.6 million units valued at N33.5 million.
At the close of transactions, market participants bought and sold 824.1 million units worth N25.5 billion in 48,114 deals, in contrast to the 1.6 billion units sold for N28.7 billion in 54,160 deals a day earlier, showing a shortfall in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 48.49 per cent, 11.15 per cent, and 11.16 per cent, respectively.
