WEEKLY REPORT
By Goddy Egene and Eromosele Abiodun
The Nigerian equities market remained in negative territory last week on the back of massive drive by anxious investors to book profits. The market was volatile in most trading days of the week as a result of the sell pressure bellwether stocks such as Nestle Nigeria Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc and Zenith Bank Plc.
Profit-taking persisted last week as investors remained enveloped in the uncertainty surrounding the nation’s forex policy. Apart from Thursday that the market gained 0.69 per cent, driven by upbeat expectation about the outcome of the Bankers’ Committee meeting, which held the same day, the exchange was dominated by bearish sentiment throughout the week.
At the close of trades for the week, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index ASI depreciated by 1.45 per cent to close at 27,232.62, while capitalisation fell by N138.00 billion to close at N9.35 trillion. Consequently, the year-to-date loss to stood at 4.92 per cent..
Similarly, all other Indices finished lower during the week, with the exception of the NSE ASeM Index, NSE Insurance Index and the NSE Oil/Gas Index that rose by 0.25 per cent, 1.71 per cent and 1.97 per cent respectively
However, market analysts traders have again reiterated that the negative performance may be short-lived as some investors to take position for possible gains in the days ahead.
“We expect the market to stabilise on expectation of opportunistic buying from discerning investors taking advantage of the depressed price level in some stocks. We, however, highlight that macro issues ranging from delayed announcement of the framework for a flexible foreign exchange regime, as well the country’s fragile fiscal position will continue to weigh on market performance. As such, we advise investors to build position in quality names for a medium to longer term horizon,” said analysts at Investment One Limited.
Daily performance summary
The Nigeria bourse had last week opened on a negative note, recording a marginal loss of 0.13 per cent largely on account of sell-off in Banking, Oil & Gas and Consumer goods tickers. The NSE-ASI berthed at 27,598.54 points and market capitalisation shed N12 billion to end the session at N9.48 trillion. Investors’ sentiment as gauged by the market breadth index slipped into the negative territory as number of decliners at 25 stocks outnumbered the number of advancers at 16 stocks. Similarly, market turnover declined by over 40 per cent as both volume and value of trades ended the session at about 142 million units of stocks and N1.42 billion respectively compared to over 243million and N2.43 billion respectively in the previous session. The banking sector stocks led by Diamond Bank Plc and FCMB Group accounted for 62 per cent of trade with volumes in the two names estimated at over 14 million units each.
The bears sustained the hold on the equity market on Tuesday as the NSE ASI depreciated by 0.45 per cent to close at 27,475.48 points. The depreciation recorded in the share prices of UBA Plc, Access Bank Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, FBN Holdings Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc were mainly responsible for the loss recorded in the Index. Similarly, the market capitalisation depreciated by 0.45 per cent to close at N9.44 trillion compared with the depreciation of 0.13 per cent recorded the previous day to close at N9.48 trillion.
The NSE-ASI closed in the red for the third day in a row on Wednesday, dragged by sell-off in key market bellwether stocks including Nigeria Breweries Plc (4.78 per cent) and Dangote Cement Plc (2.94 per cent). Contrary to previous session, activity was mixed as volume of trades rose by 42 per cent while value turnover declined by 40 per cent. As such, investors exchanged over 260million units of stocks valued at N1.2 billion in 3,591 deals. Unity Bank Plc’s stocks rallied 10 per cent to lead the gainers’ chart on the back of the news regarding the planned fresh equity investment by Trituium while Dangote Sugar Plc stocks declined by 6.91 per cent to top the laggards list. The Oil & Gas index was the lone gainer among the sectoral indices, largely due to gains in Forte Oil Plc ( five per cent) and Oando Plc ( 7.89 per cent) while Banking (0.26 per cent), Industrial (1.81 per cent) and Consumer good (2.22 per cent) indices closed in the red.
Bargain hunting activities lifted the equity market Thursday with the NSE ASI appreciating 0.69 per cent to close at 27,284.83 points. The appreciation recorded in the share prices of FBN Holdings Plc, UBA Plc, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Access Bank Plc and Zenith Bank Plc were mainly responsible for the gain recorded in the index. Similarly, the market capitalisation appreciated by 0.69 per cent to close at N9.37 trillion compared with the depreciation of 1.37 per cent recorded the prior day to close at N9.31 trillion. The total value of stocks traded on the floors of the NSE on the day was N1.58 billion, up by 30.06 per cent from N1.22 billion recorded the previous day.
The Nigeria bourse ended the week on a negative note, falling by 0.19 per cent as investors booked profit on recent gains in some Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods sector tickers. Consequently, the benchmark indicator lost 52.21 points to close at 27,232.62 points.
Market turnover
During the week under review, a turnover of 959.917 million shares worth N7.871 billion in 17,561 deals were traded by investors on the floor of the exchange down from total of 1.263 billion shares valued at N11.583 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 17,434 deals.
The Financial Services Industry remained the most active chart with 782.476 million shares valued at N4.114 billion traded in 10,477 deals, thus contributing 81.51 per cent and 52.27 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Conglomerates Industry followed with 59.433 million shares worth N99.619 million in 762 deals. The third place was occupied by the Consumer Goods Industry with a turnover of 46.553 million shares worth N2.833 billion in 2,703 deals.
Trading in the top three equities – UBA Plc, FBN Holdings Plc and Access Bank Plc accounted for 288.689 million shares worth N1.275 billion in 3,854 deals, contributing 30.07 per cent and 16.20 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Also traded during the week were a total of 78,666 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) valued at N866,656.30 executed in 25 deals, compared with a total of 6,500 units valued at N117,637.20 transacted the prior week in 24 deals.
A total of 4,725 units of Federal Government Bonds valued at N5.266 million were traded in three deals compared to a total of 151,970 units of Federal Government and Corporate Bonds valued at N170.962 million transacted the previous week in five deals.
Gainers and losers
Meanwhile, a total of 27 equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than 12 equities of the previous week. Forty-one equities depreciated in price, lower than 60 equities of the previous week, while 112 equities remained unchanged higher than 108 equities of the previous week.
The top 10 gainers were: Union Dicon Plc (N1.95), ETI Plc (N1.07), Ashaka Cement Plc (N1.00), Unity Bank Plc (28 kobo), NEM Insurance Plc (19 kobo), Neimeth Plc (11 kobo), Oando Plc (84 kobo), Berger Paints (75 kobo), AIICO Insurance Plc (four kobo) and McNichols Plc ( seven kobo).
Conversely, the top 10 losers were: Cadbury Nigeria Plc (N1.99), Glaxo Smithkline Plc (N1.79), Airline Services and Logistics Plc (18 kobo), UBA Plc (43 kobo), UBN Plc (47 kobo), Skye Bank Plc (10 kobo), Red Star Express Plc (30 kobo), Fidson Plc (14 kobo), Fidelity Bank Plc (seven kobo) and FBN Holdings (21 kobo).
