Financial Turmoil: Banking Stocks Pull Down Nigerian Equities Market

The Nigerian equities market encountered a challenging day with a decrease in the All-Share Index of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) by 0.49 percent, primarily due to the decline in banking stocks. This resulted in the erasure of previous gains, settling at 71,457.92 basis points and causing a reduction in the market cap of listed equities to N39.10 trillion.

Prominent stocks such as FBN Holdings, Access Holdings, Jaiz Bank, Zenith Bank, Guaranty Trust Holding Company, and United Bank for Africa experienced significant sell-offs, contributing to the overall market downturn.

The Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderated to +0.1 percent and +39.4 percent, respectively, while the market capitalisation settled at N39.10 trillion at the close of trading activities, leading to a cumulative loss of N191.92 billion for equities investors.

The negative market breadth saw 28 tickers lose relative to 23 gainers, with Multiverse Mining and Exploration, SCOA Nigeria, Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank, and The Initiates among the gainers, and FBN Holdings, Secured Electronics, and Access Holdings among the laggards for the day.

Investor sentiment appeared mixed across sectors, with negative performances in the Banking and Industrial indexes, which declined by 2.01 percent and 0.01 percent, respectively, attributed to sell-offs in tier-1 banks and Lafarge Africa. On the other hand, the Insurance and Consumer Goods indexes closed mildly positive, influenced by renewed sentiment in the sector, while the Oil and Gas index remained muted.

Trading activity on the NGX witnessed a significant decline, with traded volume falling by 36.73 percent to 436.56 million units, and the total traded value decreasing by 37.62 percent to N7.55 billion. The total number of deals also declined by 15.64 percent to 7,096 deals. Universal Insurance was the most traded security by volume, reaching 52.725 million units, while Nigerian Breweries emerged as the most traded security by value on Thursday, worth N1.39 billion.

This news article originally appeared in the Nigerian Tribune and is provided by SyndiGate Media Inc.