Profit-taking activities dominated the stock market on Wednesday, following 12 consecutive days of gains as Investors lost ₦143.7 billion which saw market capitalisation declined to ₦15.0 trillion while year to date return weakened to 6.7per cent.
The All-Share index inched lower by 95 basis points (bps) to 28,634.35 points.
The market had gained, N708bn being the highest ever, and a record performance since 2015.
Sell pressures in bellwethers – MTNN (-1.5%), Zenith (-6.0%) and Guaranty Trust Bank (-1.6%) – were the key drivers of yesterday’s performance.
Activity level remained strong as volume and value traded rose by 11.1% and 0.4% to 832.9 million units and ₦9.5bn respectively.
The most traded stocks by volume were FBNH (128.8m units), Zenith (120.6m units) and UBA (84.0m units) while Zenith (₦2.4bn), GTB (₦2.4bn) and FBNH (₦789.8m) led by value.
Performance across sectors was weak as 5 of 6 indices under review closed south.
The Oil & Gas index was the lone gainer as sustained bargain hunting in Oando (+2.6%) and ARDOVA (+0.4%), lifted the index by 0.2%.
However, the Banking and Insurance indices depreciated the most, down 3.3% and 2.0% respectively, following profit-taking in Zenith (-6.0%), GTB (-1.5%) and Cornerstone (-9.1%).
“We expect bargain hunting in the next trading session to be driven by high liquidity and lower yields in the fixed income market amid the anticipation of Q3:2020 corporate earnings release,” said analysts at Afrinvest.
