The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) closed lower on Monday as profit-taking activities in Julius Berger and 24 other stocks dragged the market into negative territory.
Despite the downturn, market capitalisation surged due to the listing of new shares by Zenith Bank Plc.
At the close of trading, the All Share Index (ASI) fell by 41.7 points to settle at 105,891.33 points. However, market capitalisation increased by N477 billion (0.73%) to close at N66.069 trillion, driven by the listing of 9.67 billion ordinary shares from Zenith Bank’s capital offers exercise.
The session saw declines in medium and large-cap stocks with losses recorded in Julius Berger Nigeria, Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Fidelity Bank and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO).
Analysts at United Capital Plc stated, “The equities market is expected to maintain its positive momentum as investors continue to position themselves ahead of the full-year 2024 earnings season and possible corporate action declarations. Nevertheless, given the elevated interest rate environment in the fixed-income market, we still expect bearish sentiments to linger in the background.”
Investor sentiment remained positive as measured by market breadth with 44 stocks advancing and 25 declining.
Beta Glass, Smart Products Nigeria, and Stanbic IBTC Holdings led the gainers, each posting a 10% increase to close at N95.15, 22 kobo and N68.20, respectively.
Honeywell Flour Mills followed with a 9.98% gain to settle at N10.47, while Eterna and Northern Nigeria Flour Mills (NNFM) recorded 9.96% gains, closing at N40.30 and N80.60, respectively.
On the losing side, International Energy Insurance led the decliners’ chart, dropping 10% to N2.25. R.T. Briscoe Nigeria lost 9.63%, closing at N2.44, while Julius Berger shed 8.44% to N128.
Deap Capital Management and Trust depreciated by 8.26% to N1 while DAAR Communications fell 7.41% to 75 kobo.
The total volume of trades rose by 21.15%, with 567.289 billion units exchanged, valued at N10.414 billion, across 17,843 deals.
Secure Electronic Technology led the activity chart with 84.073 million shares worth N55.194 million followed by Fidelity Bank, which traded 67.831 million shares valued at N1.361 billion.
Access Holdings recorded 40.206 million shares worth N1.14 billion while UPDC and AIICO Insurance traded 36.649 million shares and 27.233 million shares, respectively.
As the market braces for the upcoming full-year earnings season, investors are expected to navigate between short-term profit-taking strategies and long-term positioning in key stocks.
The interplay between corporate earnings, interest rate trends and macroeconomic policies will likely dictate market direction in the coming weeks.
