Omatek, FCMB, others drag equity market to N118bn loss

Investors lost N118bn on the Nigerian Exchange Limited, on Thursday, driven by dips in the share prices of Omatek Ventures, Cutix Plc, and First City Monument Bank.

Omatek Ventures shed 10 per cent to close at N0.63, Cutix plc dipped 9.51 per cent to close at N 5.33, and First City Monument Bank lost 8.75 per cent to close at N7.30.

Leading the gainers chart are Custodian Investment which gained 8.51 per cent to close at N0.80. Livestock Feeds increased by 3.91 per cent to close at N0.09, and Wapic Insurance surged by 3.90 per cent to close the day’s trading at N0.03.

Today’s bear hit a three-day streak as the All Share Index declined by 0.21 per cent, settling at 100,156.96 points from the previous close of 100,365.17 amidst increased regulatory spotlight.

This brings the year-to-date to 34.08 per cent, the month-to-date to 0.10 per cent, and the week-to-date to negative 0.38 per cent, respectively.

Market Capitalisation dipped by 0.21 per cent to close at N56.711tn. An aggregate of 366,249,965 units of shares was traded in 8,075 deals valued at N6.88bn.

Meanwhile, activity level strengthened as volume and value traded increased by 169.1 per cent and 12.4 per cent to 1.3bn units and N9.7bn, respectively.

The market activity was bearish as the exchange recorded 12 gainers in contrast to 25 losers, and 86 closed flat.

Performance across sectors was negative, as five indices lost, while one gained. Leading the laggards, the Banking index fell 1.6 per cent due to a price decline in Zenith Bank (-2.6 per cent), First Bank of Nigeria Holdings (-2.89 per cent), and United Bank for Africa (-2.8 per cent ).

Similarly, selloffs on Linkage Assurance dipped by (7.5 per cent), Veritas Kapital fell by (3.9 per cent), Dangote Sugar shed (2.6 per cent), and National Salt Company dropped by (2.2 per cent) dragged the insurance and Consumer Goods indices down by 0.756 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively.

The Industrial Goods and Airtel Africa ICT indices lost 0.01 per cent and 0.03 per cent, sequentially, due to losses in Cutix plc (-9.5 per cent) and Omatek ventures (-10.0 per cent).

On the flip side, gains in Oando Plc (+3.1 per cent) and Japaul Gold and Ventures Plc (+0.5 per cent) pushed the Oil & Gas index up by a modest 0.01 per cent.

According to Afrinvest Research, analysts expect the market to continue its negative performance in the last trading session of the week due to higher yield repricing on risk-free securities and policy-induced value reassessment in major industries.

“In the final trading session for the week, we anticipate the market to extend the bearish performance, owing to policy-induced valuation re-assessment (in major sectors) and upward yield repricing on risk-free instruments.”

On Wednesday, PUNCH Online reported that the equity market continued with its bearish trading on Wednesday, as investors lost N68bn. The All Share Index and the Market Capitalisation declined by 0.12 per cent each to settle at 100,365.17 points and N56.83tn, respectively.