Lagos: The Nigerian equities market on Tuesday witnessed a significant downturn, ending a three-day positive streak as investors faced a N1.879 trillion loss. This decline was primarily triggered by increased sell-offs in anticipation of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery’s Initial Public Offering (IPO).
According to News Agency of Nigeria, Mr. Aruna Kebira, Managing Director of Globalview Capital Ltd., explained that the market’s decline was due to investors adjusting their portfolios in preparation for the Dangote Refinery IPO. Kebira noted that the rush to sell holdings to gather funds for the upcoming offer led to a substantial imbalance between sell and buy orders.
Kebira detailed the impact of this activity, stating, “Preparations for the Dangote Refinery IPO caused the downturn in performance today. The number of people selling is high. Today, our sales were about 15 times higher than purchases. Everybody is selling to prepare for the Dangote Refinery IPO and the further disruption expected in the market
.”
The analyst further highlighted that the strong selling pressure had reduced demand, as many investors aimed to participate in the IPO. He emphasized that the development was no longer speculative, given the formal signing ceremony and the commencement of activities leading up to the offer. “The idea was muted before, but now the signing ceremony has been held and the offer is expected to open on the trading floor on Sept. 14. So, it is no longer a rumour,” he stated.
In terms of market statistics, the market capitalisation fell from N160.600 trillion to N158.721 trillion, marking a decline of N1.879 trillion or 1.17 per cent. Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 2,897.67 points or 1.17 per cent, from 247,699.78 to 244,802.11, reflecting broad-based sell-offs. This situation led to a Year-to-Date return of 57.31 per cent, with the market breadth closing negatively, recording 64 losers against four gainers.
FG162029S1 led the losers’ chart with a 31.19 per cent drop, ending at N75. AVA Capit
al followed with a 10 per cent decline, closing at N5.40, and Fortis Global Insurance fell by 9.89 per cent, settling at N1.64 per share. Abbey Mortgage Bank and Critical Minerals Financing Corp also saw declines, falling by 9.74 per cent and 9.66 per cent, closing at N6.95 and N2.15 per share, respectively.
Conversely, Ellah Lakes topped the gainers’ chart with a 7.07 per cent increase, finishing at N9.85. The Nigerian Exchange Group followed with a 1.38 per cent rise, settling at N131.90, while Learn Africa grew by 1.16 per cent, closing at N8.75 per share. Wema Bank also recorded a gain of 0.68 per cent, ending the session at N29.70 per share.
Trading activity strengthened during the session, with the total volume traded rising by 84.67 per cent to 753.17 million shares, valued at N27.83 billion across 54,051 deals. NEM Insurance Plc led in trading volume and value, with 131.73 million shares worth N4.07 billion changing hands, accounting for 17.49 per cent and 14.63 per cent of the total market volume a
nd value, respectively.