Investors lose N750bn to selloffs in Dangote Cement,Tier-1 banks

Opening the week on Monday, investors on the Nigerian stock market lost N750 billion from their portfolios as bearish sentiment persisted.

Specifically, selloffs in the stocks of Dangote Cement, alongside Tier-one banks, namely; Guaranty Trust Holding Company(GTCO),FBN Holdings, among other declined equities pulled the market’s performance down.

The market capitalisation which opened at N55.132 trillion, shed N750 billion or 1.36 per cent to close at N54.382 trillion.

The All-Share Index also lost 1.36 per cent to close at 95,781.68 points, against 97,100.31 recorded on Friday.

Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return fell to 28.10 per cent.

However, market breadth closed positive with 31 gainers and 19 losers.

On the gainers’ table, Cutix Plc, RT Briscoe and Sky Aviation Handling Company led by 10 per cent each to close at N2.64, N1.87 and N26.40 per share, respectively.

Oando followed by 9.90 per cent to close at N39.40, while FTN Cocoa Processors gained 9.57 per cent to close at N2.06 per share.

On the flip side, Dangote Cement led the losers’ table by 10 per cent to close at N532, and Secure Electronic Technology trailed by 9.76 per cent to close at 37k per share.

African Prudential dropped 9.68 per cent to close at N8.40, Beta Glass shed 9.43 per cent to close at N48 and Caverton declined by 6.38 per cent to close at N1.32 per share.

Analysis of the market activities indicated that trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 2.47 per cent.

A total of 3.55 billion shares valued at N7.65 billion were exchanged in 9,291 deals, compared to 348.95 million shares valued at N7.46 billion exchanged in 7,677 deals posted in the previous session.

Meanwhile, GTCO led the volume and value charts with 59.25 million shares worth N2.73 billion.