Despite the gains recorded in two days on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), traders still lost about N12 billion Week-on-Week even as the Year-to-Date loss moderated to -12.25 per cent.
The market had started the week on a bearish note as the benchmark index dipped by 0.17 per cent to 27,650.28 points, following sell-offs in Dangote Cement and Access Bank. Thus, the Month-to-Date market return moderated to +0.45 per cent, while the Year-to-Date loss worsened to -12.03 per cent while market capitalisation fell by N20 billion to N13.463 trillion.
The domestic bourse sustained Monday’s bearish outing as sell-offs in Stanbic IBTC, GT Bank and MTNN drove the All Share Index (ASI) southwards by 1.08 per cent to 27,352.24 points. Consequently, YTD loss worsened to -13.0 per cent while market capitalisation declined by N138 billion to N13.325 trillion.
Wednesday’s session further closed in the red as the ASI shed 0.5 per cent to settle at 27,283.05 points on the back of sell-offs in the shares of Dangote Cement, MTNN and Zenith Bank. Consequently, investors lost N44 billion in value as market capitalisation declined to N13.281 trillion while YTD loss worsened to -13.2 per cent.
The Nigerian equities market halted its losing streak on Thursday, as investors, late interest in Nestle and Seplat drove the market to a positive return. Hence, the benchmark index widened by 1.09 per cent to settle at 27,579.85 points.
Also, the Month-to-Date return for the market turned positive (+0.20 per cent), while Year-to-Date losses moderated to -12.25 per cent.
Friday’s session saw sustained bull run as the ASI closed in the green, up by 0.35 per cent to close the week at 27,675.04 points while market capitalisation closed at N13.472 trillion. This means that investors lost about 12 billion from N13.484 trillion posted as at last week.
At the close of trading on Friday, 17 stocks depreciated in value while 14 others appreciated in value. CCNN topped the losers’ chart with 9.94 per cent to close at N14.95 per share, LearnAfrica followed with 9.68 per cent to close at N1.12, NAHCO dropped 9.65 per cent to close at N2.34, Chip Plc declined by 9.09 per cent to close at 0.30 kobo while Cornerstone lost 8.70 per cent to close at 0.42 kobo.
On the flipside, Seplat topped the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N556.60 per share. Total was next with 9.09 per cent to close at N120, Airtel Africa increased by 8.64 per cent to close at N308, Wapco rose by 6.67 per cent to close at N16 while Chams garnered 4.35 per cent to close at 0.24 kobo.
Access Bank was top on the activity chart with 68.27 million shares sold at a value of N544.58 million. Transcorp sold 24.99 million shares worth N25.09 million while GT Bank traded 22.11 million shares valued at N613.13 million.
Overall, the volume and value of shares traded stood at 187.29 million units and N2.12 billion, respectively exchanged in 2,942 deals.
Positive noises from China on U.S. trade talks had lifted European stocks on Thursday and snuffed out a modest rally in safe-haven assets that had dominated in Asia and this is said to have a mild impact on Nigeria’s stock market.
Europe’s main bourses had initially stuttered, but muscled 0.5 per cent higher when China said it was in close communication with Washington and preparing to make progress in upcoming trade talks.
U.S. President Donald Trump had also stoked hopes when he told reporters the two sides were having “good conversations” and that an agreement could be reached.
Reviewing the weekly performance of the market, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Consulting, Ambrose Omordion, attributed the development to continued sell down and profit-taking ahead of quarter-end window dressing by fund managers and onset of the third quarter earnings reporting season in October.
For his part, Head, Research and Investments, FSL Securities Limited, Victor Chiazor, noted that the Nigerian market is down currently as a result of global oil prices, as well as the sluggish growth of the nation’s economy.
Chiazor said: “Once your economy is not moving as fast as expected, the market will suffer, Q2 GDP was out at 1.94 per cent which clearly shows that the economy is not moving as fast as people would have hoped as it fell lower than Q1.
“Also we are having issues around oil prices which remain Nigeria’s source of revenue. We have seen a lot of volatility in that space and that is going to send wrong signals to the market.
Once the foreigners are not buying shares, the market will remain bearish because they dominate a significant portion of the market.
“In August, foreign participation was about 52.3 per cent compared to domestic participation which accounted to about 47.6 per cent, clearly showing that they are the drivers of our equities market. Until they see reason to come into the equities market on a large scale, we might not see that activity. A lot of funds are not coming into the market as it should despite the low prices seen in the market”.
He maintained that with the new economic team there might be a probability of the bulls returning to the market in the shortest time.