Sell-offs in Dangote Cement, GTB, Unilever pare Nigeria market index 1.53%

Massive sell-offs in Dangote Cement, Guaranty Trust Bank, Zenith Bank and Unilever weighed negatively on Nigeria’s market performance Thursday.

The local bourse, therefore, closed lower from the previous session as benchmark index, the NSEASI fell 1.5 percent to 42,185.38 points while YTD return moderated further to 10.3 percent.

As a result, market capitalisation lost N234.0 billion in value to N15.1 trillion.

Market activity level was mixed as volume traded rose 8.4 percent to 404.0 million units while value traded fell 11.9 percent to N6.0 billion.

ZENITH (66.9m), FBNH (48.4m) and REGALINS (41.2m) were the top traded stocks by volume while ZENITH (N1.9tn), GUARANTY (N591.8m) and FBNH (N544.2m) were the top traded by value.

The performance across sectors was largely negative as all indices under coverage closed in the red save the consumer goods index (+0.2%), which was buoyed by gains in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+1.6%) and NESTLE (+1.1%).

Conversely, the banking index topped the losers’ chart as price depreciation in GUARANTY (-3.5%) and ZENITH (-3.9%) dragged the index 3.1 percent lower. Also, the oil and gas index (-1.9%) declined as a result of profit taking in SEPLAT (-2.2%) and MOBIL (-4.0%) while the industrial goods and insurance indices fell 1.3 percent and 0.8 percent respectively on losses in DANGCEM (-2.3%), CONTINSURE (-4.8%) and MANSARD (-1.1%).

However, investor sentiment measured by market breadth stayed flat at 0.4x as 15 stocks advanced against 38 stocks that declined.

NPFMCRBNK (+9.8%), JOHNHOLT (+4.0%), and DANGSUGAR (+3.8%) where the top advancers while FIDELITY (-9.3%), JAPAUL OIL (-8.7%) and UNILEVER (-8.5%) were the worst performers.

Despite the decline recorded on the day, analysts maintain their expectations of a rebound in market performance, anticipating bargain hunting in blue-chip stocks that are currently on the losing streak.