The domestic equities market extended its losses to the second trading session of the week on the back of sustained losses in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-9.7%), NESTLE (-3.5%) and UNILEVER (-8.5%) which saw N169bn wiped off investors’ wealth as market capitalisation fell to N11.4tn.
As a result, the Benchmark Index shed 1.0% to 30,226.7 points while year to date (YTD) loss further dipped to -3.8%.
Activity level was mixed as value traded advanced by 23.3% to N4.5bn while volume traded declined by 78.2% to 376.5m units.
The top traded stocks by value were NESTLE (N905.2m), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (N776.5m) and GUARANTY (N720.8m) while the top traded stocks by volume were FCMB (53.9m units), STERLING (41.4m units) and UBA (41.3m units).
Performance across sectors was mixed, albeit negatively skewed as only two out of five sectors advanced. The Insurance index advanced the most by 0.9% as investors took position in NEM (+5.0%) and CUSTODIAN (+0.82%) while the Industrial index advanced marginally by 0.1% as gains in DANGCEM (+1.1%) offset sustained losses in BETAGLASS (+10.0%).
On the flipside, the Consumer Goods index further declined by 3.8% following sustained profit taking activities in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-9.7%), NESTLE (-3.5%) and UNILEVER (-8.5%). Likewise, the Oil and Gas index and the Banking index shed 1.8% and 1.1% respectively due to sustained losses in OANDO (-7.8%), FORTE(-9.9%), UBA (-2.6%) and ETI (-2.0%).
Investors’ sentiment as measured by market breadth weakened to 0.4x from 0.8x recorded in yesterday’s session as 10 stocks advanced against 28 stocks that declined.
The top performing stocks were WEMA (+10.0%), SOVERININ (+10.0%) and IKEJHOTEL (+9.7%) while the most underperforming stocks were BETAGLASS (-10.0%), FORTE (-9.9%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-9.7%).
Analyst at Afinvest said: "While we expect this negative performance recorded thus far to persist in subsequent trading sessions, we do not rule out the possibility of an upturn in the performance of the Benchmark index as investors continue to take position in fundamentally attractive stocks." IMF Cautions Nigeria, Others on China Loans