Equities market lost N604bn WoW amid robust activities

May 23, 2021

Trading at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) moved southward as market indicator ended last week with a three per cent decline despite renewed activities at the local bourse.

On Friday, the All-Share Index (ASI) closed trading at 38,324.07 basis points to record a 3.0 per cent weekly decline, having recorded losses in the first four trading sessions of the week, save for the last trading session when the market closed flat.

The market’s worth also took a dip as the market capitalisation rested at N19.975 trillion as against an opening of N20.579 trillion, having shed N604 billion during the five-day trade.

Consequently, the YTD loss increased to -4.8 per cent.

Notably, sell-offs in the shares of Airtel Africa, BUA Cement, Dangote Sugar, Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank drove the weekly loss as they shed 10.0 per cent, 4.7 per cent, 4.2 per cent, 3.0 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively.
Sectoral performance was broadly negative as the Oil and Gas index emerged as the week’s sole gainer with 7.4 per cent appreciation. The Industrial Goods index led the losers’ chart, followed by Banking and Insurance indices. The Consumer Goods index closed flat.

However, activity levels were stronger than the prior week, as trading volume and value rose significantly by 65.4 per cent W/W and 69.2 per cent W/W, respectively.

A total turnover of 1.048 billion shares worth N11.543 billion in 17,233 deals was traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange during the week under review, in contrast to a total of 840.334 million shares valued at N9.561 billion that exchanged hands in 13,239 deals in the preceding week.

The Financial Services Industry led the activity chart with 674.741million shares valued at N5.589 billion traded in 9,405 deals; thus contributing 64.41 per cent and 48.42 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The Conglomerates Industry followed with 94.524 million shares worth N630.366 million in 828 deals. The third-place was ICT Industry, with a turnover of 87.137 million shares worth N630.903 million in 539 deals.

During the week under review, Zenith Bank Plc, FBN Holdings Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc were the three top traded equities. They accounted for 248.273 million shares worth N3.288 billion in 2,988deals, contributing 23.70 per cent and 28.49 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Looking at the direction of the market, analysts, therefore advised investors to take positions in only fundamentally justified stocks as the weak macro storey remained a significant headwind for corporate earnings.