BY FESTUS OKOROMADU, ABUJA
The bears made a comeback in the Nigerian Stock Market on Thursday as the benchmark index reversed its four consecutive days of bullish trends.
The All-Share Index took a hit, declining by 0.76 percent, equivalent to 539.48 index points, and settled at 70,042.28 points after previously reaching a historic high of 70,584.69 points.
This decline was accompanied by low trading volumes and a negative market breadth.
Similarly, the total market capitalization of listed equities also dropped by 0.76 percent to N38.48 trillion, with investors shedding N296.39 billion from their portfolios.
Despite the subdued performance, the Nigerian Exchange Limited reported more decliners (28) than gainers (26), and the year-to-date return of the index remained at 36.67 percent.
Stocks such as CHAMS, INTBREW, RT BRISCOE, THOMAS WY, and FBNH recorded declines of 9.84 percent, 8.79 percent, 8.51 percent, 8.42 percent and 8.14 percent respectively, due to selling pressure, while OMATEK, ACADEMY, and PRESTIGE, saw positive advancement of 10.00 percent, 9.83 percent and 9.76 percent respectively.
Across various sectors, negative sentiment prevailed, with three out of five tracked sectors closing in the red, one sector remaining flat, and the Insurance sector experiencing gains, rising by 1.56 percent.
The Banking, Industrial, and Consumer goods indexes suffered the most significant setbacks, declining by 0.85 percent, 0.65 percent, and 0.19 percent, respectively, while the Oil & Gas index remained unchanged.
Trading activity on the NGX was bearish, with noticeable declines in the traded volume and value by 12.68 percent and 44.73 percent, respectively.
The total traded volume amounted to 525.46 million units valued at N6.09 billion.
However, the total number of deals for the day increased by 12.79 percent to 8,396 deals.
JAPAULGOLD was the most traded security in terms of volume with 93.02 million units worth N124.95 million traded during the Thursday session, while UBA was the most traded in terms of value, amounting to N971.34 million.
CBN begins clearance of forex backlogs worth $10m
Meanwhile, indications emerged on Thursday that the Central Bank of Nigeria has begun the settlement of matured backlog of foreign exchange (forex) estimated to be over $10 million comprising of outstanding debts to commercial bank and airlines operators, thereby creating a glimmer of hope that confidence will soon return in the Nigerian forex market.
Report came in on Thursday that the apex bank has delivered over 75 percent to 80 percent of outstanding matured forex forwards in banks.
According to the report, only international banks have been settled which included CitiBank, Standard Chartered and Stanbic IBTC.
A source in the CBN who confirmed the development but does not want to be mentioned, said, “I can confirm the backlog in 14 banks have been cleared. Don’t quote me as I don’t have the details yet.”
People with knowledge of the matter also reported that banks were claiming backlogs were being cleared by the CBN.
They also indicated that airlines were seeing their backlogs being cleared.
It is unclear where the source of the supply used to clear the backlog is coming from.
However, the government had announced plans to clear forex backlogs with the injection of $10 billion from the securitisation of the dividends of NLNG and the NNPCL deal.
A report from Stanbic IBTC also alluded to the clearing of the forex backlogs.
“Yesterday, the apex bank began clearing the backlog of outstanding Retail SMIS obligations. The total amount cleared is yet to be ascertained,” the source noted.
