SAT 17 APRIL, 2021-theGBJournal-NGX Exchange data showed that a total turnover of 1.263 billion shares worth N10.759 billion in 19,975 deals were traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 887.037 million shares valued at N9.193 billion that exchanged hands last week in 17,837 deals.
However, bears managed to come out top after defeating the bulls in three of the week’s five trading sessions.
Consequently, the All-Share Index declined by 0.2% w/w to close at 38,808.01 points. As a result, the YTD loss rose to -4.2%. However, activity levels were stronger than the prior week, as trading volumes and value rose significantly by 42.4% w/w and 17.0% w/w, respectively.
All other indices finished lower with the exception of NSE Premium, NSE Lotus II, NSE Industrial and NSE Sovereign Bond Index which appreciated by 0.65%, 0.09%, 0.95%, and 0.17% while the NSE ASeM and NSE Growth Indices closed flat.
Notably, profit-taking in large-cap stocks; STANBIC (-2.3%), MTNN (-0.9%), and ZENITHBANK (-0.5%) drove the weekly loss. Sectoral performance was broadly negative, as the Industrial Goods (+0.9%) index emerged as the week’s sole gainer. The Insurance (-4.2%) index led the losers’ chart, followed by Banking (-1.5%), Consumer Goods (-0.6%) and Oil and Gas (-0.3%) indices.
Eighteen equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than 17 equities in the previous week. Forty-seven equities depreciated in price higher than forty equities in the previous week, while ninety-seven equities remained unchanged, lower than one hundred and five equities recorded in the previous week.
With the Q1-2021 earnings season on the horizon, we believe investors will be looking for clues on how corporate earnings will evolve in 2021, given the expected improvement in macroeconomic conditions. However, we expect the lull in the market to persist as investors remain perturbed by the rising yields in the FI market.
Notwithstanding, we advise investors to take positions in only fundamentally justified stocks as the weak macro story remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.
Meanwhile, like the prior week, Asian markets faltered despite broadly positive sentiments across global markets.
The performance of global equities was shaped by economic data from U.S and China, developments on COVD-19 vaccinations, corporate earnings releases for Q1-2021 amidst continued retreat in U.S Treasury yields.
In the U.S, the DJIA (+0.7%) and S&P (+1.0%) rallied as investors reacted positively to impressive earnings from the “big” banks and strong retail sales data. In Europe, the STOXX Europe (+0.6%) and FTSE 100 (+1.4%) flirted with uncharted territories on the last trading week as investors sentiments received a massive boost from the region’s rapid vaccination rollout amid government fiscal support.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 (-0.3%) and SSE (-1.0%) faltered for the second consecutive week on the back of a surge in COVID-19 infection rates amid expectations that a rollback of ultra-loose monetary stimulus is on the horizon. Emerging markets (MSCI EM: +1.8%) mirrored the bullish trend in global equities, consequent to the gains in Brazil (+2.6%), which offset losses in China (-0.7%), while Frontier (MSCI FM: +0.5%) market stocks posted marginal gains, primarily driven by robust gains in Kenya (+3.6%).
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