Transactions in the equities market was highly volatile this week as year-end activities ramped up, thus resulting to a total value of N4 billion shaved off from the market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
The domestic bourse opened the week in the green as the All-Share Index (ASI) rose 60 basis points to settle at 26,695.18 points following price appreciation in Dangote Cement, Access Bank and UBA. Market capitalisation grew by N76.7 billion to N12.8 trillion as YTD loss eased to -15.1 per cent.
However, the bears resurfaced on Tuesday as the benchmark index dipped by 0.13 per cent to 26,660.44 points, driven by losses in Dangote Cement and Zenith Bank stocks.
Consequently, the Month-to-Date and the Year-to-Date losses worsened to -1.27 and -15.18 per cent, respectively.
Wednesday’s session saw the domestic bourse posting a slight gain as the ASI appreciated by 0.02 per cent to settle at 26,665.73 points following price appreciation in Stanbic, Unity Bank and FBN Holdings. Investors gained N3 billion as market capitalisation increased to N12.9 trillion and YTD return settled at -15.2 per cent.
Sell-offs in MTNN, Access Bank and UBA, however, dragged Thursday’s trading session lower by 0.03 per cent to close at 26,584.45 points. Investors lost N53 billion as market capitalisation declined to N12.8 trillion and YTD return settled at -15.4 per cent.
Friday’s session was not any different as the ASI fell by 0.22 per cent to close the week at 26,526.35 points while market capitalisation dropped N4 billion W-o-W to close at N12.804 trillion.
Positive sentiments trailed large-cap Consumer Goods & Banking stocks; however, selloffs of index-heavyweight, MTNN (-2.4 per cent), capped gains, leading the index to close flat week-on-week.
Consequently, the MTD and YTD losses remained at -1.8 and -15.6 per cent, respectively. On sectoral performances, the Consumer Goods (+1.3 per cent), Insurance (+1.0 per cent), and Banking (+0.8 per cent) indices edged higher, driven by gains in Nigerian Breweries (+10.0 per cent), Wapic (+9.1 per cent) and Stanbic (+3.9 per cent).
Conversely, selloffs of Oando (-6.1 per cent) and WAPCO (-1.4 per cent) led to declines in the Oil & Gas (-0.7 per cent) and Industrial Goods (-0.5 per cent) indices.
A total turnover of 1.381 billion shares worth N15.504 billion in 14,528 deals were traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange in contrast to a total of 1.044 billion shares valued at N14.628 billion that exchanged hands last week in 14,974 deals.
The Financial Services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.019 billion shares valued at N11.814 billion traded in 8,275 deals; thus contributing 73.82 and 76.20 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Healthcare industry followed with 170.905 million shares worth N49.097 million in 281 deals while the third place was Conglomerates industry with a turnover of 83.560 million shares worth N205.786 million in 736 deals.
Trading in the Top Three Equities namely, Access Bank Plc, Union Diagnostics and Clinical Services Plc and Zenith Bank Plc. (measured by volume) accounted for 687.097 million shares worth N6.510 billion in 2,964 deals, contributing 49.76 and 41.99 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Thirty-three equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than 18 equities in the previous week. Twenty-five equities depreciated in price, lower than 44 equities in the previous week, while 107 equities remained unchanged, higher than 103 equities recorded in the preceding week.
Analysts say the volatility in the market is due to investors realigning their portfolios after counting their 2019 losses.
A source at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said: “Right now, these investors have gone back to the drawing board to see how they can shake their portfolios. The economy in 2019 has been so bad, but not all that bad for the nation’s capital market because the regulators have made good strides this year”.
Cordros Capital in their weekly note to Sunday Sun said: “We see the level of activity and volatility being sustained over the final days of the year, with some pockets of gains expected, as fund and portfolio managers realign portfolios prior to the start of 2020”.