Sell-off in Stanbic IBTC, others trigger loss in equities market

Sell-off in Stanbic IBTC Holdings and 21 other stocks dragged transactions on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), extending the bearish trend to close on a downturn yesterday as the all-share index (ASI) depreciated by 0.92 per cent.

ASI declined by 367.97 absolute points, representing a dip of 0.92 per cent to close at 39,433.81 points while market capitalisation depreciated by N193 billion to close at N20.637 trillion.

The market loss was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks including Unilever Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Bank, Zenith Bank and Julius Berger.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said: “We expect the market performance to remain bearish in the next trading session, as investors continue to take a position in the fixed income space due to rising yields.”

Vetiva Dealing & Brokerage: “After another day of negative activity, the ASI has kicked off the month on a negative note, however, savvy investors continue to pick fundamentally sound names amid sporadic market activity. Therefore, we expect a more mixed session tomorrow, with the likelihood of further selloffs remaining high.”

Investor sentiment declined as 16 stocks advanced while 22 declined. Lasaco Assurance recorded the highest price gain of 9.62 per cent to close at N1.71, per share.

Linkage Assurance followed with a gain 9.43 per cent to close at 58 kobo while Caverton Offshore Support Group went up by 9.09 per cent to close at N1.92.

Sterling Bank rose by 8.11 per cent to close at N1.60, while Regency Alliance Insurance gained 6.67 per cent to close at 32 kobo. On the other hand, Stanbic IBTC Holdings led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N45.

Computer Warehouse Group followed with a decline of 9.61 per cent to close at N2.07, while Unilever Nigeria lost 8.21 per cent to close at N12.30 kobo.

Courteville Business Solutions lost eight per cent to close at 23 kobo, while International Breweries shed 7.02 per cent to close at N5.30 kobo.

The total volume of trades fell by 18 per cent to 349.559 million units, valued at N3.501 billion, and exchanged in 4,554 deals. Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings (FBNH) topped the activity chart with 71.285 million shares valued at N523.784 million.

Access Bank followed with 40.879 million shares worth N309.952 million, while Ekocorp Plc traded 40 million shares valued at N235.999 million.

Zenith Bank traded 25.026 million shares valued at N544.352 million while United Bank of Africa (UBA) transacted 18.047 million shares worth N130.313 million.