Equity market hits lowest point since January 23
The benchmark index of the equity market on Tuesday dropped to 97,473.98, a point, which had been crossed on January 23 during the bullish run.
Similarly, the market capitalisation of listed stocks dropped to N55.132tn, a milestone surpassed on January 24, when the market cap rose to N55.583tn.
Several analysts had predicted a pullback in the market following a bullish trading pattern that had been sustained from the latter days of 2023 into the New Year, which saw the market make and break records regularly.
A stockbroker, David Adonri, in a chat with The PUNCH, had described the bullish run as one based on sentiments.
He said, “The Equities Market grew by 39.84 per cent in Q1 2024. The prolonged rally that started last year at the heels of economic reforms continued into the first quarter of 2024. So many records of performance were broken in the first quarter. However, the superlative performance of the market was not driven by concrete improvements in economic or market fundamentals but by sentiment.”
The release of corporate actions like listed companies and the announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria of a fresh recapitalisation exercise have not been enough to increase interest in the capital market especially when there were better yields in the other market.
At the close of trading on Tuesday, both the ASI and the market cap dropped by 0.24 per cent respectively despite recording more gainers (22) than losers (20).
Responsible for the declines were dips in the share prices of Dangote Sugar (-10 per cent) and PZ Cussons (-10 per cent), which have remained on the losers chart for consecutive days.
Waste management firm, The Initiates Plc, also saw its shares dip by 10 per cent to close trading at N2.25.
In the same manner, trading activities suffered declines, with the total deals, volume, and value depreciating by 7.62 per cent, 30.18per cent, and 48.90 per cent, to 7,951 deals, 306.60 million units, and N5.81bn compared to the previous day’s trading figures.
Sectoral performance mirrored the market’s bearish sentiment, as evidenced by declines of 1.02 per cent, 1.09 per cent, and 0.81 per cent in the Banking, Insurance, and Consumer Goods indices, respectively.
However, the Industrial Goods index saw a marginal rise of 0.02 per cent, while the Oil/Gas sector remained stable in contrast to the previous session.
At the close of trading, AccessCorp emerged as the most traded security in terms of volume, with 33.23 million units transacted in 746 trades, while GTCO led in traded value, amounting to N1.36bn.
