Selloffs in Airtel, Zenith Bank, others, down NGX by N280.5bn
By Temitope Adebayo
After six weeks of gaining streaks, the equities market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), loss N280.5billion due to selloffs in Airtel Africa, Fidelity and Zenith Bank in one week.
Nigerian Exchange’s number one market mover, Airtel Africa lost six per cent, after an impressive earnings performance in the financial year 2022. Its contemporary, MTN Nigeria however remain solid as analysts guide investors to keep positioning in the telecom stock.
Consequently, the Nigerian Exchange All-share index fell 1.0 per cent to 53,804.46 points week on week. Also, market capitalisation declined N280.5 billion to N29.3 trillion while year-to-date return weakened to 5.0 per cent.
Stockbrokers said in their respective market briefs that average volume and value traded fell 20.4 per cent and 9.4 per cent week on week accordingly to 150.4 million units and N4.2 billion.
The most traded stocks by volume were GTCO (87.5 million units), UBA (81.8 million units), and BUAFOODS (50.5 million units) while BUAFOODS (₦3.8 billion), DANGCEM (₦2.8 billion), and GTCO (₦2.2 billion) led by value.
Market analysts said the performance was largely upbeat for most of the indices that saw support from an increased inflow of funds into the equity space and continued buying sentiments.
This drive excludes the banking index that was hit with profit-taking, which dragged the index into the negative region by 1.34 per cent week on week.
There was an uptick in LINKASSURE (+7.1%), CORNERST (+1.7%), CONOIL (+10.0%), and OANDO (+2.6%). Trailing, buy interest in CADBURY (+4.8%), HONYFLOUR (+3.3%), TRIPPLEG (+45.3%) and CUTIX (+2.4%)
Investor sentiment, measured by market breadth, improved to 0.1x from -0.3x in the prior week, as 34 stocks gained, 27 lost while 91 closed flat amidst rising inflation numbers, which printed 21.82% for January, and declining rates and yields in the fixed income market.
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TRIPPLEG (+45.3%), LIVINGTRUST (+16.2%), and CHAMS (+16.0%) led the top gainers while CWG (-17.3%), FIDELITY (-14.7%) and PHARMDEK (-10.0%) led the decliners.
The level of market trading activities was varied as we saw the total number of deals decrease by 14.8% week on week to 15,822 as stockbrokers recorded a 20.13% decline in trade volumes to 751.9 million units valued at N13 .21 billion,
Meanwhile, the top-gaining securities for the week were CHAMS (+16%), CONOIL (+10%), and MRS (+8%), while the week’s losers were FIDELITYBNK (-15%), NGXGROUP (-9%), and TRANSCORP (-7%).
