NGX opens September with N363bn loss

cover, Financial Markets

The Nigerian Stock Exchange opened the new month on a negative note as the market lost N363bn in value at the end of the first trading day.

Investors traded a total of 407,956,045 shares in 33,843 deals, corresponding to a market turnover of N14.77bn.

Compared to the previous trading day on Friday, August 29, Monday’s trading showed a six per cent decline in volume, a 42 per cent improvement in turnover, and a 32 per cent increase in deals. The current market capitalisation of the NGX now stands at N88.4tn.

Meanwhile, the performance of the market indices reflected the downward trend. The benchmark All-Share Index shed 573.31 points, or 0.41 per cent, to close at 139,722.19. This represents a one-week loss of 1.21 per cent, a four-week loss of 3.02 per cent, but a year-to-date gain of 35.75 per cent.

Other indices also recorded declines. The Top 30 Index fell 0.38 per cent, the Consumer Goods Index lost 0.03 per cent, the Insurance Index dropped 0.05 per cent, the Main Board Index declined 0.17 per cent, the Oil & Gas Index fell 0.45 per cent, and the Pension Index declined 0.6 per cent.

A total of 126 listed equities participated in trading, with 15 gainers and 33 losers. Leading the gainers was Sovereign Trust Insurance, which gained 10 per cent to close at N2.86 per share. It was followed by Scoa Nigeria, up 9.83 per cent at N6.59; Cornerstone Insurance Company, up 7.98 per cent at N6.90; and Guinea Insurance, which rose 7.75 per cent to N1.53. Other gainers included NSL Technologies, up 4.71 per cent at N0.89, and University Press Insurance, which added 4.17 per cent to close at N1.25.

On the losing side, Eterna led the decline, shedding 10 per cent to close at N34.20 per share.

Ellah Lakes followed with a 10 per cent loss at N12.69, while Veritas Kapital Assurance fell 10 per cent to N1.89. Chams Plc declined 9.56 per cent to N2.65, Cutix Plc dropped 7.71 per cent to N3.23, and Tantalizer Plc shed 7.26 per cent to close at N2.30.

In terms of trading volume, FCMB Group topped the activity chart with 55.8m shares traded, followed by Access Holdings with 31.9m, Fidelity Bank with 26.2m, NSL Technologies with 22.4m, and AIICO Insurance with 17.7m shares. The top five value leaders were Aradel Plc with N5.31bn, Zenith Bank with N1.11bn, WAPCO with N0.97bn, Access Holdings with N0.84bn, and GTCO with N0.83bn.