Investors on equities market lose N124bn in one week
By Kayode Tokede
Performance of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) equities market last week was mixed as investors’ investment dropped by N124 billion.
Market analysts said that the local bourse was not immune to the rout in global equities, as profit-taking activities in the last two trading sessions of last week completely wiped off the week’s gains and pushed the market into the red.
Accordingly, the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) shed week-on week (W-o-W) by 0.57 percent to close at 37,994.19 points, while market capitalization decreased by N124 billion in value to close at N19.796 trillion.
Notably, selloffs in Airtel Africa and Dangote Sugar Refinery drove the weekly loss. Sectoral performance was positive, as the NSE Oil/Gas index rose by 6.53 percent to close at 331.60 points, followed by the NSE Banking, NSE Insurance and the NSE Industrial indices which expanded by 3.29 percent, 0.17 percent and 0.19 percent to 382.94 points, 203.68 points and 1,929.59 points respectively. On the flip side, the NSE Consumer Goods fell by 0.32 percent to 599.04 points.
Market breadth for the week was positive as 44 equities appreciated in price, 22 equities depreciated in price, while 90 equities remained unchanged. UPDC led the gainers table by 40.70 percent to close at N1.21, per share. Cutix Plc followed with a gain of 21.00 percent to close at N3.63, while John Holt went up by 19.67 percent to close to 73 kobo, per share.
On the other side, Red Star Express led the decliners table by 15.26 percent to close at N3.11, per share. Eterna Plc followed with a loss of 14.80 percent to close at N6.39 and Linkage Assurance declined by 12.94 percent to close at 74 kobo, per share.
Overall, a total turnover of 1.348 billion shares worth N12.140 billion in 21,581 deals were traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.021 billion shares valued at N14.145 billion that exchanged hands last week in 17,565 deals.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 892.212 million shares valued at N7.065 billion traded in 11,592 deals; contributing 66.20 per cent and 58.20 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The ICT Industry followed with 110.067 million shares worth N776.402 million in 744 deals, while Conglomerates Industry traded a turnover of 100.008 million shares worth N216.504 million in 788 deals.
Trading in the top three equities; Fidelity Bank, FBN Holdings and Zenith Bank (measured by volume) accounted for 310.779 million shares worth N3.166 billion in 3,289 deals, contributing 23.06 per cent and 26.08 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
On Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) platform, a total of 34,123 units valued at N784,264.64 were traded last week in 13 deals compared with a total of 13,050 units valued at N930,262.30 transacted previous week in 17 deals, while on the Bonds market, a total of 147,590 units valued at N173.172 million were traded last week in 15 deals compared with a total of 61,298 units valued at N61.267 million transacted previous week in 26 deals.
In the new week, analysts at Cowry Assets Management Limited expected the equities market to trade positive as investors position ahead in stocks which are expected to pay interim dividends amid increased financial liquidity from the maturing bonds.
Cordros Capital Limited said that “With the moderation in the prices of bellwether stocks last week, we expect savvy investors to take advantage of this and make re-entry ahead of their H1, 2021 earnings announcement.
“However, we do not rule out the possibility of continued profit-taking activities. As a result, we think the local bourse will likely exhibit a zig-zag pattern. Therefore, we advise investors to take positions in only fundamentally justified stocks.”
Also, analysts at Afrinvest Limited said “In the coming week, we expect the domestic equities market to post positive performance as investors anticipate good result from the H1, 2021 earnings results.”
