The demand in highly priced stocks started to wane, which led to a new slump in the equities area of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX). The stock market was prevented from continuing its upward trajectory because the bears were on the rampage.
The local bourse’s investment in several heavyweights was sold off by investors last week, which caused the equity capitalization to drop once more. Throughout four trading sessions, the NGX fell by around N675 billion. After significant sell-offs of AIRTELAFRI that caused the benchmark index to decline by 2.3% week over week to conclude at 52,994.13 points, profit taking has been maintained for the fourth week in a row.
According to stockbrokers, investors in stocks have begun to adjust their portfolios as spot prices on government securities in the fixed income category have increased. According to Cowry Asset Management analysts, in response to the trend, equity investors have started to reposition ahead of the first quarter results season based on the present price levels that have been viewed as an appealing point of entry.
The market capitalization decreased by N674.53 billion to close at N28.87 trillion, according to data from the exchange, which caused the year-to-date return to drop from 7.04% previous week to 3.40%.
Stockbrokers reported that, overall, the indexes’ performance was generally on a bear trend, with the exception of the Insurance sector, which gained 2.09% week over week due to purchase activity. Trade data revealed that volumes and value transacted decreased by 49.1% week over week and 42.8% week over week, respectively, mirroring the downturn in the market’s broad gauge.
Due to sell-offs, the Banking index decreased by 1.0%. Consumer Goods also saw a 0.6% decline, and the Oil & Gas industry also had a 0.1% decline.
Instead, the Insurance index surged higher, up 2.2%, making it the only sector to gain ground this week. The industrial goods index was held level by a balanced posture.
At the close of the week, the level of market trading activities was downbeat as the total number of deals plunged by 9.83% week on week to 16,155. Cowry Asset said stockbrokers recorded a 49.14% decline in traded volumes for the week to 1.05 billion units valued at N10.05 billion, indicating a decrease of 42.77%.
On the gainers’ chart were NAHCO (+21%), MANSARD (+16%), and LINKASSURE (+12%), while the week’s losers were ETERNA (-19%), MULTIVERSE (-19%), and AIRTELAFRI (-10%).
