Goddy Egene
Equities investors staked only N9.193 billion on 887.037 million shares in 17,837 deals last week, showing a decline of about 52 per cent compared with N19.039 billion invested in 1.445 billion shares in 17,400 deals the previous week.
The market was bearish as the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) fell by 0.13 per cent to close at 38,866.39, while market capitalisation closed lower at N20.335 trillion.
The negative performance was unexpected considering the fact that investors are still realigning their portfolios as the end of the earnings season is here, while they take position for the second quarter.
According to analysts, in the midst of this, investors continue to realign their portfolio with eyes on yield movements in the fixed income market and dividend yields, as the market is likely to do well in this quarter and year, being a vaccine year after the extensive damage to man and economies arising from the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) to drive global and local economic recovery.
“The prevailing nation’s subsisting stagflation environment remains a potent threat to investment returns in the financial market, just as the soaring food prices, high pump price of fuel and insecurity across the country continue to drive inflation rate. We note that the equity market remains a dependable hedge against inflation, considering the dividend yield and 10 per cent daily price movement,” analysts at Investdata Consulting said.
Meanwhile, a look at the activity table showed that the Financial Services Industry remained the most active with 607.224 million shares valued at N6.066 billion traded in 10,125 deal, thus contributing 68.46 per cent and 65.99 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Conglomerates Industry followed with 112.318 million shares worth N572.831 million in 1,450 deals, while the third place was Oil and Gas Industry, with a turnover of 57.662 million shares worth N201.453 million in 1,107 deals. Trading in the top three equities namely Zenith Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc accounted for 259.248 million shares worth N4.818 billion in 4,970 deals.
The price movement chart showed that 17 stocks appreciated, lower than 42 equities in the previous week, while 40 equities depreciated in price higher than 22 equities in the previous week.
