Nigerian stocks see second-biggest plunge of the year as investors take profit

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Nigerian stocks were down 1.3 per cent on Friday, taking a hit from profit-taking actions on a couple of telecom and bank stocks that spurred the bourse second biggest dive of the year.

Heavy sell orders on Airtel Africa, the most capitalised stock on the exchange, and Zenith Bank as well as Fidelity Bank set the slide in motion in a trading session where volume jumped by 37 per cent and turnover by 5 per cent.

NGX 30, the index that tracks the top 50 companies on the exchange in terms of liquidity and market capitalisation, dipped 0.1 per cent also on account of sell pressure on Airtel Africa.

Market breadth, which gauges investors’ sentiment towards trade, closed in the negative as 18 decliners were recorded in contrast to 13 gainers.

The all-share index climbed down by 715.7 basis points to 49,629.4, while market capitalisation dropped to N29.3 trillion.

Nigerian stocks are up by 5 per cent so far this year.

Tripple Gee topped the gainers’ chart, appreciating by 9.9 per cent to close at N1.99. Wapic added 9.8 per cent to end trade at N0.45. Living Trust advanced by 6 per cent to N2.30. UPDC rose to N1, notching up 4.2 per cent. Lasaco completed the top 5, climbing up by 4.1 to N1.02.

Pharma Deko led the laggards, declining by 10 to close at N1.9 while RT Briscoe shed 6.7 per cent to end trade at N0.28. Airtel Africa fell to N1,560, losing 6.02 per cent. Fidelity Bank slumped to N4.76, recording 5.4 per cent depreciation. FCMB closed at N4.28, going down by 3.8 per cent.

A total of 172.9 million shares valued at N3.8 billion were traded in 3,077 deals. FBN Holdings was the most active stock with 47.4 million units of its shares worth N561.2 million exchanging hands in 98 deals. Zenith Bank traded 16.9 million shares priced at N427 million in 253 transactions. Access Holdings had 13.6 million shares valued at N125.7 million traded in 148 deals. Fidelity Bank traded 10.5 million shares estimated at N12.7 million in 89 transactions. Transcorp traded 10.5 million shares valued at N12.7 million in 89 deals.