NGX rebounds as Airtel Africa powers N652.8 billion gain despite broad-based selling

Nigeria’s equities market staged a modest recovery on Tuesday, June 30, as renewed buying interest in Airtel Africa and other fundamentally strong stocks lifted the benchmark index despite continued weakness in overall market breadth.

The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) gained 0.45% to close at 229,419.18 points, up from 228,401.92 points recorded in the previous trading session.

Investors gained approximately N652.77 billion as market capitalisation rose to N147.22 trillion from N146.56 trillion on Monday.

The rebound followed Monday’s N2.35 trillion market rout and helped moderate the sharp correction that has dominated trading since late May.

However, selling pressure remained widespread as declining stocks continued to outnumber advancing counters across the market.

The year-to-date return improved to 47.43%, recovering part of the losses recorded during the recent market pullback.

What the data is saying:

Buying interest returned to several large and mid-cap stocks even as profit-taking persisted across many sectors of the market.

Highlights of Tuesday’s trading include:

• All-Share Index: 229,419.18 points, up 0.45%.
• Market Capitalisation: N147.22 trillion, up approximately N652.77 billion.
• Volume Traded: 966.66 million shares, down about 8.4%.
• Value Traded: N39.99 billion, down about 10.4%.
• Deals: 49,579 transactions.
• Year-to-Date Return: 47.43%.
• Market Breadth: 19 gainers against 32 losers.

Top 5 gainers:

• Prestige Assurance (PRESTIGE) — up 10% to N1.54
• CVFC (CVFC) — up 10% to N4.18
• Airtel Africa (AIRTELAFRI) — up 10% to N4,794.60
• Cutix (CUTIX) — up 9.70% to N2.94
• Regal Insurance (REGALINS) — up 9.09% to N0.84

Top 5 Losers:

• Custodian Investment (CUSTODIAN) — down 9.98% to N65.85
• R.T. Briscoe (RTBRISCOE) — down 9.95% to N9.95
• PZ Cussons Nigeria (PZ) — down 9.95% to N85.50
• UPDC (UPDC) — down 9.86% to N3.20
• Honeywell Flour Mills (HONYFLOUR) — down 9.78% to N14.30

Several other counters also closed lower as broad selling pressure persisted.

More insights:

Airtel Africa delivered the biggest boost to the market during the session. The telecom giant appreciated by the maximum daily limit of 10%. Its strong performance helped offset declines across several banking, insurance and consumer goods stocks.

• The rally came as Airtel Africa touched a new 52-week low of N4,794.60 during the trading session.
• FCMB also attracted renewed investor interest after recent weakness.
• The stock gained 7.81%, while Dangote Sugar rebounded 4.87% following heavy selling in previous sessions.
• Wema Bank recovered 4.00%, while Chams added 6.44%.

Despite these gains, the broader market remained fragile.

Thirty-two stocks closed lower compared with only 19 gainers. This indicates that buying remained concentrated in a limited number of fundamentally strong counters.

Sectoral performance was largely negative

• The Banking Index led the laggards with a 1.62% decline.
• The Insurance Index fell 0.38%.
• Consumer Goods slipped marginally by 0.03%.
• Oil and Gas and Industrial Goods posted marginal gains of just 0.01% each.

The Commodity Index closed unchanged.

• Trading activity also weakened during the session.
• Total volume traded declined to 966.66 million shares.
• Transaction value fell to N39.99 billion.
• The number of deals also dropped significantly compared with Monday’s exceptionally active session.
• Linkage Assurance emerged as the most actively traded stock by volume.
• The company recorded 95.97 million shares, representing almost 10% of the day’s total market volume.
• Aradel Holdings dominated the value chart. The stock accounted for N11.59 billion worth of transactions, representing approximately 29% of the day’s traded value.
• MTN Nigeria and Mecure Industries followed Aradel among the most valuable trades executed during the session.

Rather than broad bargain hunting, investors focused primarily on fundamentally attractive stocks with stronger earnings prospects.

What you should know:

Tuesday’s rebound interrupted the recent wave of heavy losses that followed the market’s record highs in May.

• The NGX All-Share Index gained 0.45% after Monday’s 1.57% decline.
• Investors recovered approximately N652.77 billion in market value.
• Year-to-date return improved to 47.43%.
• Airtel Africa and Prestige Assurance recorded the maximum daily gain of 10%.
• Custodian Investment and RT Briscoe posted the day’s steepest declines of 10%.

Although the market closed higher, the negative breadth shows the correction has not completely ended.

The continued dominance of losers over gainers suggests many investors are still locking in profits after the market’s remarkable first-half rally.

Market analysts expect this pattern to persist in the near term, with bargain hunting likely to coexist alongside intermittent profit-taking.