Nigerian equity market opens new month with 0.15% dip

The Nigerian equity market started the month of November with a decline, driven by profit-taking in FBNH, DANGSUGAR, and NIGERIAN BREWERIES.

The NGX benchmark index dropped 0.15% to 41,976.79 points as the market capitalisation lost ₦32.3billion to ₦21.9tn while year-to-date return weakened to 4.2%.

Investors were very active on Monday as the volume and value traded rose 13.0% and 6.5% respectively to 378.2m units and ₦3.2billion.

The most traded stocks by volume were MBENEFIT (52.4m units), UBA (29.3m units), and FBNH (27.5m units) while ZENITH (₦339.8m), FBNH (₦299.8m), and WAPCO (₦279.2m) led by value.

The Oil & Gas index led the laggards, down 1.8% as investors sold off stakes in OANDO (-7.9%) and ETERNA (-9.9%). Similarly, the Banking and Consumer Goods indices lost 0.4% and 0.3% respectively, driven by profit-taking in FBNH (-2.7%), GTCO (-0.9%), DANGSUGAR (-2.9%), and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-0.9%).

On the flip side, buying interest in AIICO (+8.9%), WAPIC (+6.3%), and WAPCO (+1.9%) drove 1.9% and 0.1% gains in the Insurance and Industrial Goods indices sequentially.

FIDSON (+9.9%), GUINNESS (+9.9%), and SOVRENINS (+9.1%) led gainers while ETERNA (-9.9%), UPDC (-9.4%), and COURTVILLE (-9.1%) led the laggards. In the next trading session, we expect the market to remain bearish driven by profit-taking.