Profit-taking on high cap stocks dips market by 1.6 per cent WoW

Bearish sentiments took hold of trading at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) last week, as investors took advantage of the gains over the last two weeks by booking profit on high capitalised stocks.

Bear pull was dominant at the local bourse as losses were recorded in all of the week’s four trading sessions aside for Friday.

Accordingly, the All-Share Index shed 1.6 per cent Week-on-Week (WoW) to close at 39,198.75 basis points.

Also, the market capitalisation depreciated by 1.99 per cent to close the week at N20.431 trillion as against an opening of N20.651 trillion The dip was largely contributed by the delisting of 11 PLC’s shares from the trading platform of NGX which reduced the market capitalisation by N39 billion to close at N20.431 trillion.

Consequently, the Year-to-Date (YTD) returns moderated to -2.7 per cent.

Notably, profit-taking in the stocks of Stanbic IBTC, MTN Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Bank and Dangote Cement drove the weekly loss as they recorded respective shares depreciation by 6.0 per cent, 4.1 per cent, 2.8 per cent and 2.5 per cent.

On the performance chart, 31 equities appreciated in price; 37 equities depreciated in price while 92 equities remained unchanged.

Last week, sectoral performance was broadly positive as the Oil and Gas, Consumer Goods, and Banking indices recorded gains by 5.3 per cent, 0.6 per cent, 0.6 per cent respectively. On the flip side, the Insurance and Industrial Goods indices closed in the red with 2.2 per cent and 1.6 per cent respective losses.

However, activity levels at the local bourse for the week under review were mixed, as trading volumes declined by -3.8 per cent while value traded rose by 41.8 per cent.

Basically, a total turnover of 1.419 billion shares worth N15.918 billion in 18,459 deals were traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.441 billion shares valued at N10.883 billion in 19,614 deals traded in the previous week.

The Financial Services Industry led the activity chart with 1.069 billion shares valued at N9.531 billion traded in 10,907 deals; thus contributing 75.34 per cent and 59.88 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The Industrial Goods Industry followed with 60.762 million shares worth N2.005 billion in 1,070 deals. The third place was Consumer Goods Industry, with a turnover of 57.023 million shares worth N1.029 billion in 2,831 deals.

Access Bank Plc, FBN Holdings Plc and Zenith Bank Plc stocks were the toast of investors last week as they accounted for 609.988 million shares worth N6.593 billion in 4,870 deals, contributing 43.00 per cent and 41.42 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Looking into the week, analysts believed the bears would likely maintain dominance as the absence of positive triggers would limit buying interest from the bulls.

Notwithstanding, analysts at Cordros Capital advised investors to take positions in only fundamentally justified stocks as the weak macro story remained a significant headwind for corporate earnings.

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FULL TEXT: A viral post on WhatsApp is asking N-Power candidates to verify the status of their application and see if they have been shortlisted for the batch C cash grant…Profit-taking on high cap stocks dips market by 1.6 per cent WoW

Profit-taking on high cap stocks dips market by 1.6 per cent WoW