- Turnover volume tumbles by 44.5%
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The Nigerian stock market closed on a marginal loss of N7 billion last week, resulting from a showdown between bargain hunters and profit-takers in the market.
The profit-takers however had it at the end of the weekly trading described as mixed by analysts.
Moves by bargain hunters, which ordinarily should lead to appreciation in the aggregate worth of equities investment in the domestic bourse was met with countering sell-offs, particularly of banking stocks that have gained in previous sessions as investors moved to make capital gains.
Specifically, selloffs of GUARANTY, UBA and ZenithBank shares that resulted into -5.8 per cent, -3.9 per cent and -1.2 per cent declines respectively dragged the All Share Index (ASI) -0.05 per cent, to close the week lower at 25,591.95 basis points while market capitalization followed suit to close at N13.351 trillion.
Consequently, the year-to-date (YtD) loss increased to -4.7 per cent. Performance across sectors was broadly negative with the banking index losing -2.7 per cent, oil & gas shedding -1.3 per cent).
While insurance and consumer goods indices followed suit by losing -0.7 per cent and -0.3 per cent respectively, the Industrial Goods added 0.4 percentage points as the sole gainer of the week.
Commenting on the market outlook, analysts at Cordros Capital said investors should continue to trade cautiously as risks remain on the horizon due to a combination of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Nigeria and weak economic conditions.
“Thus, we continue to advise investors to seek trading opportunities in only fundamentally justified stocks,” they said.
A total turnover of 1.226 billion shares worth N10.842 billion in 19,529 deals were traded during the week on the floor of the Exchange, showing 44.5 per cent and 1.05 per cent falls in volume and value traded in contrast to a total of 2.209 billion shares valued at N10.957 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 18,013 deals.
Volume moving sector
The financial services industry, measured by volume, led the activity chart with 980.482 million shares valued at N6.987 billion traded in 11,634 deals; thus contributing 79.99 per cent and 64.44 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The conglomerates industry followed with 59.758 million shares worth N72.458 million in 550 deals and the third place was the consumer goods industry, with a turnover of 58.869 million shares worth N1.349 billion in 2,862 deals.
Top three equities by volume
In terms of traded volume, trading in the top three equities namely Custodian Investment Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and United Bank for Africa Plc, accounted for 404.171 million shares worth N3.847 billion in 3,910 deals, contributing 32.97 per cent and 35.48 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Meanwhile, a total of 54,457 units of exchange traded funds (ETFs) valued at N283.940 million were traded during the week in 18 deals compared with a total of 126,119 units valued at N655.919 million transacted the previous week in 36 deals.
Twenty-three equities appreciated in price during the week, lower than 41 equities in the previous week. Similarly, 38 equities depreciated in price, higher than 19 equities in the previous week, while 102 equities remained unchanged, lower than 103 equities recorded in the previous week.
