The week began badly for the Nigerian equities market, which lost N93 billion as a result of sell-offs in MTN Nigeria, Transnational Corporation (Transcorp), and other falling firms.
To be more precise, the market capitalization closed at N55.404 trillion, down N93 billion, or 0.17 percent, from its opening value of N55.497 trillion. In addition, the All-Share Index fell 163 points, or 0.17 percent, to close at 97,582.41 from Friday’s closing price of 97,745.73. The year-to-Date (YTD) return dropped to 30.50 percent as a result.
On the exchange floor, there were 25 laggards and 23 gainers, resulting in a negative closing market breadth. In the losers’ standings, The Initiative Plc lost 18k, UPL lagged by 24k to close at N2.18, and Chams led by 22k to close at N1.98.
Omatek also decreased by 5k to close at 56k, and Champion went down by 25k to close at N3.01 per share. On the other side, International Breweries led the gainers’ table by 42k to close at N4.62, followed by Presco Plc by 44.10 to close at N485.10 per share.
Sovereign Trust Insurance rose by 5k to close at 55k, United Capital gained N1.20 to close at N13.35, and Oando advanced by N2.50 to close at N27.80 per share. Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 57.36 percent.
A total of 324.02 million shares valued at N6.22 billion were exchanged in 9,738 deals, against 210.91 million shares valued at N3.95 billion that exchanged hands in 6,603 deals recorded in the previous session.
Meanwhile, Zenith Bank led the volume and value charts, with 36.99 million shares worth N1.33 billion.
Ahead of the week, analysts at Cowry Asset Management Ltd. forecast a mixed trend with a possibility of profit-taking on the Nigerian stock market.
The analysts said that investors were likely to engage in sectoral rotation, capitalising on stocks that experienced pullbacks to position themselves strategically.
They said that this rotation strategy was expected to create buying opportunities, especially in anticipation of upcoming releases and dividend announcements from major banking institutions in the corporate reporting season.
As the market structure and fundamentals evolve, investors are advised to position themselves in stocks with sound fundamentals to navigate the prevailing conditions effectively,” the analysts advised.
