Sell-offs drag equity market cap by N857bn

The market capitalisation of the Nigerian exchange recorded its second dip since the beginning of the year as it shed N857bn to close at N56,425tn on the back of sell-offs. 

Similarly, the All-Share Index dipped by 1.49 per cent on Tuesday to close at 103,110.15 points.

On January 10, the market recorded its first loss in the New Year as the market cap dipped by about N638bn to close at N44.885tn.

Depreciations were observed in several stocks, fuelled by strong sell interest thus leading to a high number of losers (61) as compared to gainers (7) on the local bourse.

 Securities such as AccessCorp, Caverton, Guinea Insurance, Linkage Assurance, Axa Mansard, Nascon Allied Industries, and Sterling Financial Holding Company suffered losses as their respective share prices declined by 10 per cent each. 

 The gainers include real estate firm, UPDC,  Geregu Power, which recorded a 74.11 per cent increase in its revenue to N82.91bn from N47.62bn as of the end of 2022. This was the highest revenue it had earned in the last five years.

Other gainers include Wema Bank whose latest results showed that it had doubled its profits on the back of interest income, fees, and commissions, agribusiness, Ellah Lakes gained 0.99 per cent, UPDCREIT gained 0.81 per cent, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated gained 0.38 per cent and Redstarex gained 0.26 per cent, respectively. 

 Moreso, trading activity levels on the NGX showed a negative trend, with notable decreases in the total number of deals, traded volume, and value for the day. 

Total deals decreased by 8.23 per cent to 14,579 trades. Also, the traded volume and value dropped by 5.94 per cent, reaching 648.95 million units, and 57.26 per cent to N11.09bn, respectively. 

 Across the sectoral front, the sentiment was predominantly negative. NGX Banking, NGX Insurance, NGX Consumer Goods, NGX Oil/Gas, and NGX Industrial Goods indices posted losses of 6.73 per cent, 6.44 per cent, 2.59 per cent, 0.58 per cent, and 0.39 per cent, respectively. 

At the close of the session, JapaulGold emerged as the most traded security in terms of volume with 59.80 million units across 498 trades, while the United Bank for Africa led in traded value at N1.23bn.