The previous week’s selling rallies on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) floor cost stock investors over N623 billion in losses. A change in market mood resulted in downward pressure on the market.
There was little enthusiasm in purchasing stocks due to the yield repricing in the fixed income market. Unimpressive profits results and portfolio repositioning ahead of the first quarter 2024 earnings release helped to partially bolster stock selloffs.
After four days of persistent bearishness, the NGX year-to-date return fell from 39.8% to 38.3%, but it was still much higher than the annual inflation rate of 31.70%. An uptick in activity was shown by the average volume and value exchanged, which went up by 104.0% and 11.2%, respectively, to 119.9 million units and ₦14.5 billion.
The top traded stocks by volume were ABBEYBDS (1.4 billion units), ZENITH (352.4 million units) and GTCO (227.2 million units), while ZENITH (₦15.3 billion), GTCO (₦11.6 billion), and UBA (₦5.9 billion) led in terms of value.
The negative sentiment was influenced by actions of market players who continue to digest the corporate earnings released so far as well as portfolio rebalancing efforts on the strength of expected earnings for Q1-2024, according to Cowry Asset Management Limited.
Despite these headwinds, the activities in the equities market managed to retain a semblance of positivity in trading activities. However, this positivity was insufficient to offset the selling pressure, resulting in a weekly decline of 1.08% for the benchmark index, settling at 103,437.67 points.
Despite this, trading activity was mildly bullish. The market witnessed an uptick in both weekly traded volume and value by 103.98% and 11.24% week-on-week, respectively. Market data indicates that 3.68 billion units with a total value of N57.89 billion were exchanged. Total weekly deals rose 5.64% to 40,724 deals.
The sectoral performance ended negative, excluding the Consumer Goods index, which recorded a modest gain of 0.94% week-on-week, mirroring the previous week’s performance. Adverse price movements in key stocks such as MAYBAKER, DANGSUGAR, and IKEJAHOTEL contributed to this positive run.
Conversely, the bellwether banking stocks’ negative price movements resulted in a weekly decline of 6.73% for the banking index. The insurance and industrial goods sectors closed negatively.
Financial stocks like FBNH, STERLINGNG, JBERGER, GTCO, PRESTIGE, LAFARGE, TRANCORP, and MTNN dragged the market performance lower. On a weekly comparison basis, the market saw 31 overpowered gainers and 43 decliners.
Notable gainers included CUTIX (23%), MORISON (21%), MAYBAKER (19%), CHAMS (16%), IKEJAHOTEL (14%), and DANGSUGAR (14%), with significant share price advancements by 23%, 21%, 19%, 16%, 14%, and 14%.
Conversely, FBNH, STERLINGNG, JBERGER, CWG, and HONYFLOUR emerged as major losers, experiencing notable price declines week-on-week. Overall, equities market capitalisation plunged by N622.93 billion to close at N58.49 trillion on Friday.
Looking ahead, Cowry Research sees weak optimism for the coming week underpinned by actions of market players who continue to digest the recent policy pronouncements… and the continuation of window dressing activities by fund managers.
