Investors Sell Stocks in Panic, Shift Focus to Bonds, Others

By Dipo Olowookere

Investors on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited embarked on a selling spree in panic on Monday amid the declines seen in the ecosystem lately.

Yesterday, the panic selling further battered the exchange by 1.97 per cent as stocks like Dangote Cement, GTCO, Lafarge Africa and 28 others closed in the red territory.

Only seven equities appreciated in price during the session as the risk appetite of traders continues to moderate amid stability in the fixed-income space, especially in terms of its interest rates.

On Monday, the Debt Management Office (DMO) sold FGN bonds at the primary market and it was observed that some investors liquidated their shares to purchase the government securities, which cleared at 13.15 per cent.

According to data from the bourse, the volume of equities transacted yesterday rose by 43.04 per cent to 345.0 million units from 241.2 million, the number of trades increased by 0.63 per cent to 5,075 deals from 5,043 deals, while the value of the transactions reduced by 16.15 per cent to N3.1 billion from N3.7 billion.

FCMB, which had an off-market deal of 148.7 million units consummated by CSL Stockbrokers, was the most traded stock after it sold 177.6 million units valued at N669.0 million.

UBA transacted 29.5 million shares worth N221.2 million, Access Holdings exchanged 22.0 million equities worth N206.4 million, FBN Holdings sold 12.6 million stocks for N114.0 million, while Transcorp traded 11.6 million shares for N14.3 million.

Union Bank and Dangote Cement finished the session as the worst-performing stocks as they lost 10.00 per cent each to trade at N5.40 and N249.30 respectively. Livestock Feeds depreciated by 9.77 per cent to N1.20, International Breweries fell by 9.60 per cent to N5.65, while Flour Mills declined by 8.57 per cent to N32.00.

The best-performing stock for the day was Jaiz Bank as its value went up by 5.32 per cent to 99 kobo, Regency Assurance gained 3.70 per cent to 28 kobo, Japaul appreciated by 3.33 per cent to 31 kobo, Zenith Bank rose by 2.80 per cent to N22.00, while NAHCO grew by 2.63 per cent to N7.80.

On the first trading session of the week, despite the sell-offs, the banking sector closed higher by 0.35 per cent and finished as the only gainer as the industrial goods, consumer goods, insurance and energy counters depreciated by 5.27 per cent, 1.16 per cent, 0.94 per cent and 0.23 per cent respectively.

Consequently, the All Share Index (ASI) retreated by 1,021.34 points to 50,756.74 points from 51,778.08 points, while the market capitalisation fell by N550 billion to N27.364 trillion from N27.914 trillion.