Nigerian Stocks Shed N551 Billion After Selloff in Dangote Cement Shares

Depreciation in the shares of FBN Holdings and International Breweries also compounded the plight of the market, which is yet to report a gain in the past ten days.

Nigerian stocks crumbled to their lowest level since May 4 on Monday, with the benchmark index dropping almost 2 per cent or N550.6 billion as investors dumped huge volumes of Dangote Cement for sale, forcing the cement-maker to lose as much as one-tenth its value.

Depreciation in the shares of FBN Holdings and International Breweries also compounded the plight of the market, which is yet to report a gain in the past ten days.

Analysts at brokerage firm and investment bank United Capital are holding an upbeat view for this week regardless and noted in their outlook: "we anticipate return of buying interest in the equities market as investors build their positions ahead of the H1-2022 earnings and dividend season."

Market breadth, an indicator of investors' sentiment towards trade, was negative as 31 laggards were recorded compared to 7 gainers.

The all-share index slid 1,021.3 basis points to 50,756.7, while market capitalisation rose to N27.4 trillion at the end of trade.

Year to date, the index is up 18.8 per cent.

TOP FIVE GAINERS

Jaiz led gainers, appreciating by 5.32 per cent to close at N0.99. Regal Insurance added 3.70 per cent to end trade at N0.28. Japaul Gold went up by 3.33 per cent to N0.31. Zenith Bank rose to N22, notching up 2.80 per cent in the process. NAHCO completed the top 5, climbing by 2.63 per cent to N7.80.

TOP FIVE LOSERS

Union Bank was the worst performing stock, declining by 10 per cent to close at N5.40. Dangote Cement shed 10 per cent to close at N249.3. Livestock fell to N1.20, losing 9.77 per cent. International Breweries dipped to N5.65, recording 9.60 per cent depreciation. Flour Mills closed at N32, going down by 8.57 per cent.

TOP FIVE TRADES

In all, 345 million shares estimated at N3 billion were traded in 5,075 deals.

UBA was the most active stock with 29.5 million units of its shares worth N221.2 million traded in 221 deals. FCMB shares of 28.9 million units, priced at N100.8 million exchanged hands in 67 transactions. Access Holdings traded 22 million shares estimated at N206.4 million in 163 transactions. FBN Holdings traded 12.3 million shares valued at N181.4 million in 261 deals. Transcorp had 11.6 million shares valued at N14.3 million traded in 157 deals.

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