Investors Lose N655.29bn as Nigeria Stock Index Declines by 2.53%

The Nigerian equities market started the week on a sour note as investors in the market lost a whooping N655.29 billion as a result of negative movements in prices summarised by the negative 2.53% declined printed by the All-Share Index (ASI).

This was as AIRTELAFRI closed limit down (-10.0%). As a result, the All-Share Index declined by 2.53% to 46,365.95 basis points – its lowest point since April 2022.

Accordingly, the Month-to-Date loss increased to -5.4%, while the Year-to-Date gain moderated to +8.5%.

The total volume traded increased by 10.8% to 137.88 million units, valued at NGN4.32 billion, and exchanged in 3,142 deals. GTCO was the most traded stock by volume at 33.72 million units, while AIRTELAFRI was the most traded stock by value at NGN1.74 billion.

Analysing by sectors, the Insurance (-1.2%) and Consumer Goods (-0.1%) indices closed lower, while the Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indices closed flat. The Banking (+0.9%) index was the sole gainer of the day.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (2.8x) as 14 tickers gained relative to 5 losers. PZ (+9.5%) and UPL (+9.3%) topped the gainers’ list, while AIRTELAFRI (-10.0%) and SOVRENINS (-7.1%) recorded the highest losses of the day.

Contrarily, the naira appreciated by 0.1% to N441.25 per dollar at the I&E window at the end of the day.

In the money market & fixed income, trading statistics shows that the overnight lending rate was flat at 16.5%, as the average system liquidity closed at a net short position of N110.34 billion.

Activities in the Treasury bills secondary market were muted, as the average yield closed flat at 7.3%. Elsewhere, the average yield pared by 1bp to 10.3% in the OMO segment.

The Treasury bond secondary market traded with mixed sentiments, but with a bearish tilt, as the average yield expanded by 1bp to 13.7%.

Across the benchmark curve, the average yield was unchanged at the short and mid segments, but expanded at the long (+3bps) end due to the selloff of the MAR-2035 (+12bps) bond.