By Chinwendu Obienyi
Despite the gains garnered by the investors in Nigeria’s stock market last week, analysts have said they expect bearish sentiments to dominate market transactions today.
This is coming after the bullish momentum in the local bourse gained steam as the All-Share Index (ASI) rose above the 40,000 points to close at 40,221.17 points – the highest level since 21st February 2021 while market capitalisation rose by N656 billion to close at N20.955 trillion.
The gains recorded, according to data from the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX)’s market report, showed that investors’ buying interest in Dangote Cement (+14.3 per cent), FBN Holdings (+7.3 per cent), Nestle (+5.7 per cent), Flourmill (+2.8 per cent), Okomu oil (+2.6 per cent), and GTCO (+2.2 per cent) drove the ASI 3.2 per cent higher.
Meanwhile, a total turnover of 2.187 billion shares worth N16.183 billion in 14,377 deals were traded last week by investors, in contrast to a total of 1.290 billion shares valued at N13.921 billion that exchanged hands in the previous week in 16,745 deals.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 778.434 million shares valued at N5.591 billion traded in 7,183 deals; thus contributing 35.60 per cent and 34.55 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Services Industry followed with 775.712 million shares worth N2.909 billion in 416 deals while the Consumer Goods Industry recorded a turnover of 448.662 million shares worth N3.999 billion in 2,257 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Transcorp Hotels Plc, Honeywell Flour Mill Plc and FBN Holdings Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 1.494 billion shares worth N6.944 billion in 1,017 deals, contributing 68.33 per cent and 42.91 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Commenting on the performance of the week, Cordros Capital said that they expect the bears to dominate market performance this week, as investors cash out on the gains across bellwether stocks.