Transaction statistics from the local bourse show that during the last five trading sessions, the Nigerian Exchange, or NGX, saw a drop of almost N44 billion.
Despite strong dividend payouts and indications of money entering the market, stockbrokers indicated that last week’s decline in the share market was caused by the reemergence of bears.
The previous week’s gain was reversed when the exchange recorded 33 weekly gainers against 37 weekly decliners, which brought key performance indicators negative.
According to stockbrokers’ updates, investors’ sell-offs of blue-chip and bellwether stocks caused the all-share index to decline by 0.08% week-over-week to 99,222.33 points.
Weak buying sentiment prompted the bears to hold firm on the benchmark index, resulting in a year-to-date return of 32.7%, Cowry Asset Limited said in its market update.
The equities market ended in green twice out of five trading sessions last week. Top gainers for the week included RTBRISCOE (+25%), OANDO (+24%), ETERNA (+22%), DEAPCAP (+20%), and ETI (+12%).
Conversely, negative investor sentiment led to sell-offs in UNITYBNK (-22%), SOVRENINS (-14%), TRANSCORP (-11%), SUNUASSUR (-11%), and PRESTIGE (-11%) as investors adjusted their portfolios for sectoral rotation.
Sectoral performance was mixed, according to stockbrokers, with the insurance index leading the gainers with a 0.84% increase. The surge was attributed to gains in CUSTODIAN, NEM, LASACO, and REGALINS.
The consumer goods index followed, rising by 0.33% due to positive price movements in PRESCO, HONYFLOUR, INTBEW, and NIGERIAN BREWERIES.
In contrast, the Banking and Oil & Gas indices saw notable week-on-week decreases of 0.62% and 0.18%, driven by losses in UNITYBNK, FIDELITYBNK, UBA, SEPLAT, OANDO, and JAPAULGOLD, respectively. Meanwhile, the Industrial Goods Index closed the week flat.
A total turnover of 1.703 billion shares worth N30.495 billion in 37,765 deals was traded this week by investors on the floor of the exchange, in contrast to a total of 2.189 billion shares valued at N31.303 billion that exchanged hands last week in 39,362 deals.
According to Cowry Asset Limited, trading activities were downbeat on all fronts, with negative market breadth evidenced by a decline in total volume and deal activities.
The total traded volume fell by 22.21% week-on-week to 1.70 billion units, while the total weekly traded value decreased by 2.58% to N30.49 billion. Additionally, the total number of trades for the week plunged by 4.06% to 37,765.
The financial service industry led the activity chart with 1.222 billion shares valued at N15.876 billion traded in 18,782 deals, thus contributing 71.77% and 52.06% to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.
The oil and gas industry followed with 171.174 million shares worth N3.549 billion in 3,699 deals. The consumer goods industry took third place, with a turnover of 116.145 million shares worth N4.434 billion in 4,163 deals.
Trading in the top three equities, namely Fidelity Bank Plc, Access Holdings Plc, and Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc (measured by volume), accounted for 583.809 million shares worth N5.740 billion in 4,733 deals, contributing 34.28% and 18.82% to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.
Overall, the equities market capitalization of the Nigerian Exchange lost N43.6 billion over the week, falling from N56.17 trillion to N56.13 trillion.
