Nigerian stocks crash to nine-month low as investors expect Q3 results

Nigerian stocks fell by 2.2 per cent or N544.5 billion on Tuesday as the market stayed continuously helpless in shaking off the gloom that has thickened around trade so far for the most part of October, the highlight being the fall of the main equity index to its lowest point since 18 January.

Airtel Africa, Nigeria’s biggest company by market value, has incurred investors’ wrath more than any other stock in the last two days, setting in train two of the market’s biggest routs year to date.

The telecom operator has shed more than N2 trillion in market value in less than two weeks, having seen a number of sell-offs.

“We expect continued bargain hunting as investors look forward to the Q3-2022 earnings season, thus cherry-picking stocks with great underlying fundamentals,” analysts at United Capital said in an outlook note for this week seen by PREMIUM TIMES.

“However, we maintain that the broader equities market will remain in a lull pending the release of Q3-2022 results.”

Return on had reached a high of above 20 per cent earlier this year. But yield is taking crushing blows from three straight hikes in the benchmark interest, which is washing away vast amounts of smart money from stocks into fixed income securities, seen by investors as offering better yields.

Year-to-date return for equities is now as low as 6.2 per cent.

The coming of the election season is not favourable either as international investors weigh risks of putting their money in a clime as politically tumultuous as Nigeria, hurting stocks.

Market breadth, a pointer to investors’ sentiment to trade, closed in the positive as 18 advancers emerged in contrast to 14 laggards.

TOP FIVE GAINERS

UCAP led gainers, appreciating by 9.7 per cent to close at N12.45. Regal Insurance grew by 8.3 per cent to end trade at N0.26. Sovereign Trust went up by 7.7 per cent to N0.28. Mutual Benefits rose to N0.29, notching up 7.4 per cent in the process. Honeywell Flour traded up 6.8 per cent to N2.50.

TOP FIVE LOSERS

Airtel Africa topped the losers’ chart, declining by 10 per cent to close at N1,458. Nigerian Breweries shed 9.8 per cent to end trade at N41.90. CWG closed at N0.74, going down by 8.6 per cent.

Jaiz fell to N0.85, losing 5.6 per cent in the process. Courteville slumped to N0.46, recording a 4.2 per cent depreciation.

TOP FIVE TRADES

Altogether, 420.3 million shares estimated at N3.6 billion were traded in 3,486 deals.

CWG was the most active stock with 258.8 million of its shares worth N191.5 million traded in 5 deals. GTCO traded 57.4 million shares priced at N1.1 billion in 570 transactions. Zenith had 13.2 million shares valued at N268.8 million exchange hands in 337 deals.

Fidelity traded 12.5 million shares estimated at N44.5 million in 104 transactions. Access Holdings traded 9 million shares valued at N74.4 million in 150 deals.