New Listing Boosts NGX Market Cap By N105bn Despite Market Slump

The recent listing of 2,418,099,300 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each per share of Notore Chemical Industries Plc on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) has significantly boosted the market capitalisation of the local bourse by N105.79 billion, raising it to N55.72 billion.

This development occurred despite a subdued trading session on Monday, July 29^th, with the benchmark index falling to 98,132.15 points.

According to a market bulletin from NGX Regulation, these additional shares were listed following a private placement at N43.75 per share, amounting to N105.79 billion.

The total issued and fully paid-up shares of Notore Chemical Industries now stand at 4,030,165,500 ordinary shares, up from 1,612,066,200. Notore’s stock price remained steady at N62.5 at the close of trading.

Despite this significant listing, investor sentiment was notably bearish, with shares of Caverton, WAPIC, and ABC Transport declining by 10 percent, 9.30 percent, and 9.09 percent, respectively. Market activity saw a downturn, with total volume and value decreasing by 65.64 percent and 59.69 percent, respectively, to 379.13 million units and N8.71 billion.

However, the total number of deals increased by 10.97 percent, reaching 10,096 trades. The market’s performance across various sub-sector indices was largely negative, with the Banking sector down by 1.01 percent, Consumer Goods by 0.07 percent, and Industrial Goods by 0.01 percent. In contrast, the Oil/Gas sector posted a gain of 1.32 percent, driven by price increases in Eterna Oil and Conoil, while the Insurance index edged up by 0.15 percent.

In the tug-of-war between the bulls and bears, the session ended with 22 gainers and 21 losers. The top gainers included Africa Prudential (+10.00 percent), Cutix (+9.90 percent), and Eterna (+9.88 percent). United Bank for Africa emerged as the most traded stock by volume, with 69.06 million units exchanged in 662 trades, while Seplat led in value terms, with transactions worth N2.71 billion.

Last week, the Nigerian equity market saw a significant downturn, with investors losing N1.34 trillion, predominantly in banking and pension stocks.