In the aftermath of the Christmas holiday, the Nigerian Exchange Limited experienced a dip of N139 billion, with banking stocks remaining resilient and maintaining a positive trend on the first trading day.
The All-Share Index and market capitalization both saw a marginal decrease of 0.34%, settling at 73,768.64 and N40.367 trillion, respectively. Despite this, the year-to-date gain of the All-Share Index stands at an impressive 43.94%.
Specifically focusing on the banking sector, the Banking Index on the NGX showed a slight increase from 887.60 to 889.15. Notable performances include FCMB Group rising by 4.79%, Fidelity Bank by 0.95%, Guaranty Trust Holding Company by 0.50%, Jaiz Bank by 8.75%, Unity Bank by 2.50%, Zenith Bank by 0.26%, and Access Holdings by 0.22%.
Conversely, some banking stocks experienced declines, with Stanbic IBTC Holdings leading the pack with a share value dip of 6.01%. Sterling Financial Holdings Company, FBN Holdings, and United Bank for Africa also recorded losses.
The market breadth, reflecting investor sentiment, remained positive with 40 gainers and 21 losers. Notable sell-offs were observed in UAC Nigeria, DEAPCap, Caverton, Royal Exchange, and Tantalizer, each witnessing declines ranging from 6.12% to 10%.
Despite the market dip, trading activity improved, showing a 40.55% increase in total deals and a 2.27% rise in traded volume. However, the traded value declined by 21.99% to N12.94 billion.
In the sector-wise analysis, the Insurance index led gainers with a 3.06% increase, followed by the Oil/Gas and Banking indexes with gains of 0.24% and 0.17%, respectively. On the flip side, the Consumer and Industrial Goods sectors experienced declines of 0.15% and 1.10% due to sell-offs.
Jaiz Bank emerged as the most traded security by volume, with 35.38 million units worth N58.74 million changing hands. Geregu led in traded value at N6.06 billion.
Despite fears of a run on the banks following concerns about the CBN special investigator report, operations at major banks appeared normal, with the Central Bank of Nigeria issuing a statement reassuring the public about the safety of their deposits.
