Despite the listing of an additional 1.88 billion shares of Ellah Lakes Plc on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday, the downswing in the Nigerian Stock market continued following the growth restraint of the nation’s economy.
This was the view of market analysts following the cumulative loss of N76 billion from the market capitalisation of the NSE.
Analysts at Afrinvest said: “We maintain our bearish outlook for subsequent trading sessions, but remain optimistic that investors would continue to position in undervalued stocks with good fundamentals”.
Cordros Capital said; “Our outlook for equities in the short to medium term remains conservative, amidst absence of a positive catalyst. However, stable macroeconomic fundamentals remain supportive of recovery in the long term”.
Speaking to Sunday Sun, Prof of Capital Market, Uche Uwaleke, noted that the market would bounce back, pointing out that this presents a good opportunity for investors to buy.
Uwaleke explained that the current administration is doing all it can to fix the issues in all sectors of the economy.
According to him, “the market sometimes reacts to what the economy is undergoing. Several of the sectors need to be looked into, but with the right policies, the economy will bounce back, the same goes for the capital market”
The stock market had opened the week on a negative note as the ASI dipped 0.37 per cent to settle at 29,936.33 points, below the psychological benchmark of 30,000 points due to losses in the shares of Dangote Cement, UBA and GT Bank. Thus, market capitalisation declined by N41 billion to close at N13.192 trillion.
Tuesday’s session saw the lingering bearish run of the local bourse as the ASI trimmed down by 0.39 per cent to 29,818.80 points fueled by losses in International Breweries, Nigerian Breweries and Nestle with YTD loss worsening to -5.1per cent while market capitalisation fell by N52 billion to N13.140 trillion.
The bears continued to dominate on the domestic bourse as the benchmark index declined by 0.15 per cent to 29,818.80 points, following sustained selloffs in large cap stocks on Wednesday.
Thus, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses increased to 4.17 and 5.27 per cent respectively.
Thursday’s session saw the All Share Index (ASI) dropping 0.02 per cent to settle at 29,765.31 points while the market capitalisation closed at N13.116 trillion from N13.192 trillion recorded on Monday.
This represented a loss of N76 billion in four consecutive trading sessions while the Year-to-Date loss worsened to -5.3 per cent.
However, Friday’s session ended in the green with the ASI notched up 0.29 per cent to close the week at 29,851.29 points while market capitalization settled at N13.154.
Market breadth improved as 24 stocks appreciated in value while 14 others appreciated. Glaxosmithkline topped the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N9.35 per share. Wapco was next with a gain of 10 per cent to close at N11.55. Cutix increased by 8.89 per cent to close at N1.47, Law Union garnered 8.70 per cent to close at 0.50 Kobe while Linkage Assurance rose by 8.20 per cent to close at 0.66 Kobo. On the other hand, Chams topped the losers’ chart with 8.82 per cent to close at 0.31 kobo per share. ABC Transport was next with 6.90 per cent to close at 0.27 kobo, Sovereign Insurance fell by 4.35 per cent to close at 0.22 kobo, Fidelity Bank lost 3.89 per cent to close at N1.73 while Africa Prudential declined by 3.67 per cent to close at N3.41.
Zenith Bank was the most active stock, selling over 29.64 million shares valued at N592.87 million. GT Bank traded 22.42 million shares worth N700.2 million while Wapco sold 14.77 million valued at N170.66 million.