Investors’ profit-taking down equities market by N516bn in 1 week
By Kayode Tokede
The bears continued to dictate proceedings in the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) equities market last week as the market suffered its second consecutive weekly loss.
Downtrend was sustained on the local bourse as the NSE All-Share Index trended southwards on four of five trading sessions. The negative performance was largely due to price depreciation in bellwethers like, Airtel Africa, Dangote Cement and BUA Cement.
The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) declined week-on-week (W-o-W) by 2.56 per cent to close at 37,658.26 points. Market capitalisation decreased by N516 billion in value to close at N19.627 trillion.
However, sectoral performance was mostly bullish; the NSE Banking, NSE Consumer Goods and the NSE Oil & Gas indices advanced by 0.92 per cent, 0.57 per cent and 0.12 per cent to close at 365.83 points, 571.60 points and 314.58 points respectively. On the flip side, the NSE Insurance and the NSE Industrial indices fell by 0.83 per cent and 3.33 per cent to close at 199.26 points and 1,951.41 points respectively.
Market breadth for the week was negative as 33 equities appreciated in price, 37 equities depreciated in price, while 85 equities remained unchanged. Veritas Kapital Assurance and Linkage Assurance led the gainers table by 18.18 per cent each to close at 26 kobo and 65 kobo, while Vitafoam Nigeria followed with a gain of 18.12 per cent to close at 37 kobo, while Africa Prudential went up by 17.77 per cent to close to N14.25, while Honeywell Flour Mill rose by 10.71 per cent to close at N1.55, per share.
On the other side, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance led the decliners table by 13.43 per cent to close at 58 kobo, per share. Royal Exchange followed with a loss of 12.50 per cent to close at 63 kobo and Airtel Africa declined by 10 per cent to close at N678.00, per share.
Overall, a total turnover of 1.006 billion shares worth N10.330 billion in 17,165 deals were traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 981.147 million shares valued at N10.384 billion that exchanged hands previous week in 15,001 deals.
The Financial Services Industry, measured by volume led the activity chart with 646.404 million shares valued at N5.199 billion traded in 8,996 deals; thus contributing 64.26 per cent and 50.33 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Consumer Goods Industry followed with 108.587 million shares worth N2.257 billion in 3,213 deals, while the Conglomerates Industry traded a turnover of 80.257 million shares worth N179.134 million in 614 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Zenith Bank, Transcorp Hotels and Access Bank (measured by volume) accounted for 207.341 million shares worth N2.510 billion in 2,774 deals, contributing 20.61 per cent and 24.30 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
On Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) platform, a total of 101,876 units valued at N1.732 million were traded last week in 19 deals compared with a total of 101,419 units valued at N1.610 million transacted previous week in 14 deals, while a total of 216,675 units valued at N215.720 million were traded last week in 44 deals compared with a total of 26,452 units valued at 26,452 units transacted previous week in 17 deals.
During the course of the week, the entire 29.431 billion issued shares of Guaranty Trust Bank were delisted from the daily official list of the Nigerian Exchange Limited on June 24, 2021, while Guaranty Trust Bank Holding Company Plc’s entire issued share capital of 29.431 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each were listed on the daily official list of NGX on the same date.
In the new week, analysts at Cowry Assets Management Limited expected the equities market to trade positive as investors position in stocks of companies likely to pay interim dividends.
Analysts at Cordros Capital Limited said that “We believe a ‘choppy theme’ will be the overarching theme in the local bourse as investors continue to watch out for clues on the direction of yields in the FI market. Following the moderation in the share prices of bellwether stocks, we expect the bulls to make a re-entry in dividend-paying stocks ahead of H1, 2021 dividend declarations, which intermittent profit-taking activities would match. However, we reiterate the need for positioning in only fundamentally sound stocks as the macroeconomic environment’s fragility remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.”
Also, Afrinvest Limited anticipated a possible rebound in market performance in the coming week, as investors position ahead of half year (H1), 2021 corporate releases and take advantage of cheap attractive stocks.
