Equities market begins month bearish, amidst mixed outlook

THE All Share Index ended trading week on a bearish note to begin the month August on a southway journey, having lost 0.37 per cent, week on week (WoW). Capitalisation followed suit, declining to a present close of N13.22 trillion.

As against predictions that trading of shares on Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) might see a lift from the negative dominance due to positive outlook of half year results, July trading were however discouraging with bearish moments outweighing the bulls.

During the course of the week under review, the breadth recorded 30 gainers against 41 losers as a total of 1.39 million shares valued at N20.29 billion in 19,832 deals were traded, compared to a total of 1.42 million shares valued at N16.74 billion in 19,964 deals.

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The ASI commenced the trading week on a positive note with a gain of 0.84 per cent and maintained the positive position in the second trading session at 0.19 per cent only to sway southwards in the third trading session to lose -1.09 per cent. While keeping up in the fourth trading session with an upward movement of 0.21 per cent, the bourse lost -0.52 per cent in the last trading session of the week.

Even though the market is maintaining waves between the north and south poles, analyst believed some signs of improvement were evident from the market performance during the week’s trading sessions.

“It will be notable to point out that some stocks are undergoing corrections and it will be advisable to tread with caution in taking advantage of stocks that have shed weight over the week,” Analysts at APT Securities noted.

A review of performance on the Nigerian bourse for the first half ended, 31 July, 2018 indicated that ASI closed at 38,278.55 points as against its 2018’s opening index of 38,243.19 points.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities on the NSE closed the six-month period at N13.866 trillion as against N13.609 trillion recorded at the beginning of the year, representing net gain of N257 billion or 1.88 per cent. The difference between the ASI and aggregate market value was due to supplementary listings of shares.

Analysts said they expected attractive valuations due to the recent share price decline and considerable growth in corporate earnings to stimulate price recovery.

“We expect this bullish sentiment to be maintained in subsequent trading sessions as investors take position ahead of the release of more first half 2018 results. Nevertheless, we do not rule out the possibility of profit taking following four consecutive days of gains,” Afrinvest Securities stated.