Investors trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) lost a total value of N218 billion in one week as bearish sentiment dominated the nation’s bourse.
Similarly, the All Share Index (ASI) fell by 1.2 per cent Week-on-Week (W-o-W) to close the week at 26,536.21 points while a total of N218.2 billion was shaved off the market capitalisation which settled at N12.807 trillion.
As a result, YtD loss worsened to –15.6 per cent.
During the week, the domestic equities market opened the first two-trading days bearish as the benchmark index fell 0.7 and 1.1 per cent respectively. On Wednesday and Thursday, buying interest in MTNN, GT Bank and Nigerian Breweries drove the ASI higher by 0.2 and 0.5 per cent respectively.
Finally, the local bourse pared gains from Thursday’s session, down 0.1 per cent as investors took small profit for the week. Friday’s session saw a rebound as the benchmark index fell by 0.13 per cent.
Across sectors, performance was bearish as four of six indices trended Southward w/w. The AFR-ICT index led decliners, down 1.3 per cent due to profit-taking in CHAMS (-18.9 per cent) and MTNN (-2.3 per cent). The Banking and Industrial Goods indices trailed, declining 1.2 per cent apiece following sell-offs in UBN (-7.1 per cent), Wema Bank (-4.3 per cent), Cutix (-11.7 per cent) and Berger (-10.0 per cent).
Similarly, losses in Nestle (-3.7 per cent) and Honeywell Flour (-2.9 per cent) drove the Consumer Goods index 0.5 per cent lower. On the flip side, the Insurance and Oil & Gas indices rose 0.03 per cent apiece as MANSARD (+9.1 per cent), Cornerstone (+4.8 per cent), Eterna Oil (+7.1 per cent) and Oando (+0.3 per cent) recorded gains.
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth in the prior week consequent on 17 stocks advancing relative to 44 stocks that declined. The best performing stocks for the week were Presco (+14.9 per cent), Dangote Sugar (+10.3 per cent) and Mansard (+9.1 per cent) while CHAMS (-18.9 per cent), Union Diagnostics (-15.4 per cent) and Glaxosmithkline (-12.5 per cent) led laggards.
Activity level was mixed as average volume traded fell 10.1 per cent to 155.3 million units while value traded increased 14.5 per cent to N1.4 billion exchanged in 2,773 deals.
The top traded equities by volume were Union Diagnostics (187.2 million units), GT Bank (75.2 million units) and Zenith Bank (66.2 million units) while Dangote Cement (N4.5 billion), GT Bank (N2.2 billion) and Nestle (N1.2 billion) were the top traded stocks by value.
Speaking to Sunday Sun via telephone, Chief Executive Officer, Cowry Asset Management, Johnson Chukwu, noted that sentiments remained bearish this week as a result of the macroeconomic situation of the country.
“Investors are becoming cautious because the situation of the economy is presently weak, but be that as it may we should begin to see gains before the year runs out”, he said.
However, Analysts at Afrinvest said: “In the coming week, we expect market performance to remain bearish due to profit-taking activities and the absence of economic buffers”.
Cordros Capital on their part said: “In our view, given the risk-off sentiment dominating the domestic market, we expect the market to shed points in the coming week, except we see a policy-driven catalyst.
“Nevertheless, valuations remain attractive, hence we expect pockets of gains over the final weeks of the year as fund and portfolio managers realign portfolios prior to the start of 2020”.