The Nigerian stock market took another round of pummelling following the weak state of the economy and as a result of the N157 billion shaved off from the market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Week-on-Week (W-o-W).

The market had opened Monday’s session on a positive note, notching up 0.14 per cent due to price appreciation in the shares of MTNN, Dangote Flour and CCNN. As a result, YTD loss improved to -12.0 per cent while market capitalisation increased by N19 billion to N13.483 trillion.

Tuesday’s session, however, saw sentiments reverting to the negative region once more. Consequently, the benchmark index dipped to 27,527.40 points, with the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses worsening to -0.69 and -12.42 per cent respectively.

Accordingly, investors lost N69.2 billion in value as market capitalisation fell to N13.414 trillion.

Sustained sell pressures dragged the All Share Index (ASI) southwards by 0.42 per cent to settle at 27,412.13 points while YTD loss worsened to -12.8 per cent on Wednesday. Losses in Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank and Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) depressed market performance and consequently, investors lost N56.2 billion as market capitalisation fell to N13.358 trillion.

Thursday’s session saw the local bourse close the trading session on a positive note as the All Share Index (ASI) marginally rose 0.5 per cent to settle at 27,424.92 points following buying interest in MTNN, CCNN and Dangote Sugar. As a result, market capitalisation inched higher by N6.2 billion to N13.364 trillion while YTD loss settled at -12.7 per cent.

But the bears returned to the market on Friday as ASI declined 0.43 per cent to close at 27,306.81 points while the market capitalisation closed the week at N13.307 trillion, thus representing a loss of N157 billion and 1.26 per cent in five trading days.

Performance across sectors was bearish as five of six indices trended southwards W-o-W. The banking index led the laggards, down 6.1 per cent on the back of sell pressures in Unity Bank (-13.5 per cent).

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The Insurance Index trailed, declining 3.9 per cent following losses in Continsure (-19.2 per cent) while the Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods Indices lost 1.6 and 0.6 per cent respectively due to price depreciation in Forte Oil (-12.6 per cent) and Guinness.

Losses in BETAGLAS (-9.9 per cent) drove the Industrial Goods index 0.3 per cent lower. On the flip side, the AFR-ICT index emerged the lone gainer, up 1.8 per cent driven by MTNN (+3.1 per cent).

Investors sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) worsened as 11 stocks advanced against 41 that declined. The top performing stocks were CCNN (+13.4 per cent), DANGFLOUR (+11.4 per cent) and BOCGAS (+9.9 per cent) while Continsure (-19.2 per cent), Law Union (-17.0 per cent) and Unity Bank(-13.5 per cent) led the losers.

GTBank drove up the volume chart with the sale of 129.23 million shares valued at N3.47 billion. Zenith Bank transacted 34.99 million worth N577.85 million while Transcorp traded 10.20 million shares valued at N8.86 million.

Overall, the total volume and value of stocks traded stood at 220.80 million units and N4.47 billion respectively exchanged in 2,702 deals.

According to market analysts, the bearish sentiment in the market is as a result of the state of the economy, as well as mixed results from companies quoted on the NSE.

Speaking to Sunday Sun, Senior Research Analyst, Capital Bancorp Plc, Chiazor, Victor, said: “The market has been bearish for the most of 2019 and so the weak state of the economy has weakened investors’ sentiment towards the market, that is why it is being battered. Until there is a positive trigger, then it is likely that we may not see a turnaround, but no matter the projections we make, one thing is very certain and it is oil, a major factor that would affect the market and we need to keep an eye on the prices and so there is a need to brace ourselves for tougher times in the capital market”.

Analysts at Afrinvest also said: “We believe that the bearish run would persist as investors maintain a risk-off approach towards investing in the domestic equities market. However, we see opportunities for bargain hunting in stocks with sound fundamentals.”