- Analysts justify N44bn loss
- Expert see entry opportunities
Amidst a negative performance at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) this week, the turnover went up by 15.73 per cent as investors staked a total of N22.7 billion on equities.
Nonetheless, the market was less active with traded volume dipping by 25.43 per cent at 1.331 billion share units compared with 1.785 billion recorded in the previous week.
More importantly, investors lost N41 billion to profit-booking on dividend paying stocks, a development justified by market watchers, given that the market had been in the green territory for the previous five consecutive weeks.
Precisely, the local bourse recorded losses in three of the five trading sessions of the week, following profit-taking in the shares of OKOMUOIL (-10.0%), BUAFOODS (-4.0%), GTCO (-3.4%), SEPLAT (-2.3%) and MTNN (-1.2%).
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) shed 0.2% week on week to close at 47,202.30 points. As this shaves off N41 billion on the market cap, the aggregate value of equities investment at the market fell to N25.436 trillion.
Accordingly, the month-to-date (MtD) and year-to-date (YtD) returns moderated to +1.2% and +10.5%, respectively.
Performance across sectors was broadly positive, as the Banking (+2.3%), Insurance (+1.5%), Consumer Goods (+1.3%), Oil and Gas (+0.3%), and Industrial Goods (+0.1%) indices all closed in green.
Commenting on the weekly performance, analysts at Cordros Capital said that in the coming week, “we expect investors to take advantage of the moderation in the share prices to make a re-entry in dividend-paying stocks ahead of subsequent 2021FY earnings releases.
“However, we believe investors will remain reluctant to leave gains in the market. As such, we expect intermittent profit-taking to continue due to uncertainties about the direction of yields in the Fixed Income market.
“Notwithstanding, we advise investors to take positions in only fundamentally justified stocks as the unimpressive macro story remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.”
Trading Statistics
A total turnover of 1.331 billion shares worth N22.700 billion in 24,039 deals was traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.785 billion shares valued at N19.614 billion that exchanged hands last week in 27,822 deals.
In terms of volume, the financial services industry led the activity chart with 886.121 million shares valued at N10.058 billion traded in 11.563 deals; thus contributing 66.60% and 44.31% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Consumer Goods Industry followed with 107.592 million shares worth N4.472 billion in 3,833 deals, while the third place was The Conglomerates Industry, with a turnover of 102.192 million shares worth N198.077 million in 1,008 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Access Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, and Fidelity Bank Plc, (measured by volume) accounted for 316.758 million shares worth N4.353 billion in 3,476 deals, contributing 23.80% and 19.18% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
A total of 31,239 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETP) valued at N37.245 million were traded this week in 53 deals compared with a total of 24,350 units valued at N574, 834.85 transacted last week in 38 deals.
At the bond market, a total of 79,150 units valued at N83.791 million were traded this week in 25 deals compared with a total of 61,682 units valued at N63.308 million transacted last week in 8 deals.
