Investors Lose N368bn Trading Nigerian Stocks as Confidence Wanes

By Dipo Olowookere

Waning investor confidence is fast taking its toll on Nigerian stocks as they continue to depreciate due to persistent profit-taking.

Selling pressure further weakened the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Wednesday by 0.45 per cent in the absence of a positive trigger.

According to data from Customs Street, there were 14 price gainers and 44 price losers yesterday, implying a negative market breadth index and weak investor sentiment.

The trio of Learn Africa, DAAR Communications, and Legend Internet gave up 10.00 per cent each to sell for N7.02, 90 Kobo, and N4.77 apiece as AXA Mansard lost 9.95 per cent to close at N14.39, and Universal Insurance crumbled by 9.60 per cent to N1.13.

Conversely, Secure Electronic Technology gained 9.09 per cent to finish at 96 Kobo, Consolidated Hallmark grew by 8.53 per cent to N4.20, John Holt expanded by 7.94 per cent to N6.80, Cadbury Nigeria jumped by 5.45 per cent to N58.00, and Wema Bank improved by 5.31 per cent to N21.80.

Business Post reports that during the session, the insurance counter lost 4.46 per cent, the consumer goods index declined by 1.32 per cent, the banking space went down by 0.55 per cent, the energy industry crashed by 0.44 per cent, and the commodity sector shrank by 0.08 per cent, while the industrial goods space increased by 0.23 per cent.

At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) moderated by 580.48 points to 138,157.16 points from 138,737.64 points and the market capitalisation shed N368 billion to end at N87.416 trillion versus the previous day’s N87.784 trillion.

Market participants transacted 482.8 million units of shares worth N19.7 billion in 28,193 deals at midweek, in contrast to the 407.6 million units valued at N39.9 billion traded in 31,406 deals on Tuesday.

This showed that the trading volume went up by 18.45 per cent, the trading value went down by 50.63 per cent and the number of deals retreated by 10.23 per cent.

Access Holdings was the busiest on Wednesday with a turnover of 43.0 million equities worth N1.1 billion, Fidelity Bank sold 40.1 million shares valued at N843.8 million, GTCO transacted 34.9 million stocks for N3.2 billion, UBA exchanged 33.4 million shares valued at N1.5 billion, and AIICO Insurance traded 29.1 million equities worth N91.6 million.