By Chinwendu Obienyi
Amid Fed’s outlook for subsequent rate hikes and weak sentiments, the performance of Nigeria’s stock market ended negative, resulting in a loss of N242 billion in one week.
Specifically, the All Share Index (ASI) shed 0.91 per cent to close at 49,026.62 points, while market capitalisation which opened the trading week at N26.686 trillion fell by N242 billion to close at N26.444 trillion.
The market’s downturn was impacted by losses in BUA Cement (-10.4 per cent), TOTAL (-10 per cent), Guinness (-5.6 per cent), GTCO (-4.6 per cent) and SEPLAT (-3.9 per cent) stocks. Consequently, the Month-to-Date (MTD) loss increased to -1.6 per cent, while the Year-to-Date (YTD) gain moderated to +14.8 per cent.
Sectoral performance was broadly negative following losses in the Oil & Gas (-4.7 per cent), Industrial Goods (-3.9 per cent), Insurance (-2.1 per cent), and Consumer Goods (-0.2 per cent) indices leaving the Banking (+2.1 per cent) index as the sole gainer of the week.
A total turnover of 562.856 million shares worth N9.438 billion in 16,013 deals was traded this week by investors on the floor of the exchange, in contrast to a total of 719.398 million shares valued at N8.004 billion that exchanged hands in the previous trading session in 17,444 deals.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 381.958 million shares valued at N4.551 billion traded in 8,627 deals; thus contributing 67.86 and 48.21 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The ICT Industry followed with 59.345 million shares worth N2.480 billion in 1,272 deals while the Services Industry recorded a turnover of 32.212 million shares worth N95.807 million in 607 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Zenith Bank Plc, NGX Group Plc and Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc. (measured by volume) accounted for 183.929 million shares worth N3.499 billion in 3,628 deals, contributing 32.68 and 37.07 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Reacting to the performance of the market, market analysts believe that investors would focus on the outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting scheduled to hold this week to gain further clarity on the movement of yields in the fixed income market.
“As a result, we envisage an extension of the cautious trading theme, especially from domestic investors. Notwithstanding, we reiterate the need for positioning in only fundamentally sound stocks as the weak macro environment remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings”, analysts at Cordros Research said.