Bears Dominate NGX Equities Market Amid Omicron Fears

Trading in the NGX equities market kicked off the week with negative sentiments as investors sold off INTEBREW (-4.0%) and ZENITH BANK (-0.6%).

Following this rather bearish mood, the All-Share Index declined by -0.9% to 43,270.94 points from its Friday, November 26, 2021, the figure of 43,308 basis points.

Accordingly, only the Week-to-Date declined by -0.09%, while the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date gains moderated to +2.9% and +7.5%, respectively.

However, in a 52-weeks study, the ASI still traded in a claim sideways range as it fell 460 basis points below the All Time High (ATH) of 43,730 basis points.

The ASI valued at over NGN2.35 billion and with a market cap of over NGN22.5 trillion, and exchanged in 4,105 deals was influenced largely by FCMB and AIRTELAFRI.

Critically, the volume of trades declined by 30.20% to 213.13 million units and valued at NGN2.36 billion. FCMB with 58.45 million units sold topped the volume chart, followed by AIICO (13.5 million), ZENITH BANK (12.8 million), and GTCO (12.38 million).

The value chart was dominated majorly AIRTELAFRI whose stocks traded was valued at NGN679.79 million, followed by GTCO with NGN309.67 million and ZENITH BANK with NGN308.69 million

On sectors, the Insurance (+0.6%) index maintained its excellent performance as it recorded the sole gain, while the Oil and Gas (-1.6%), Banking (-1.2%), and Consumer Goods (-1.1%) indices declined. The Industrial Goods index was flat.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative, as 20 companies relative to 12 companies gained. UPDCREDIT (-9.9%) and CHIPLC (-7.4%) topped the loser’s chart, while AIICO (+8.57%), VERITASKAP (+4.76%), and ABCTRANS (+3.03%) led the gainers chart.