… benchmark Index sheds -3.0% w/w to close at 38,324.07 points
SAT 22 MAY, 2021-theGBJournal- It was a brutal week for equity investors as the local bourse recorded losses in the first four trading sessions of the week, save for the last trading session when the market closed flat.
The All-Share Index shed -3.0% w/w to close at 38,324.07 points. Consequently, the YTD loss increased to -4.8%. Activity levels were stronger than the prior week, as trading volume and value rose significantly by 65.4% w/w and 69.2% w/w, respectively.
A total turnover of 1.048 billion shares worth N11.543 billion in 17,233 deals were traded by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 840.334 million shares valued at N9.561 billion that exchanged hands last week in 13,239 deals, according to NGX Exchange data.
Notably, sell-offs in AIRTELAFRIC (-10.0%), BUACEMENT (-4.7%), DANGSUGAR (-4.2%), ZENITHBANK (-3.0%) and GUARANTY (-2.5%) drove the weekly loss.
Trading in the top three equities namely Zenith Bank Plc, FBN Holdings Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 248.273 million shares worth N3.288 billion in 2,988 deals, contributing 23.70% and 28.49% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Sectoral performance was broadly negative as the Oil and Gas (+7.4%) index emerged as the week’s sole gainer. The Industrial Goods (-3.3%) index led the losers’ chart, followed by Banking (-1.5%) and Insurance (-0.7%) indices. The Consumer Goods index closed flat.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 674.741 million shares valued at N5.589 billion traded in 9,405 deals; thus contributing 64.41% and 48.42% 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.
Analysts at Cordros Research say they believe investors will be focused on the outcome of the highly anticipated MPC meeting to gain further clarity on the movement of yields in the FI market in the week ahead.
‘’Consequently, we see more of a “choppy theme” as cautious trading dominates the 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, Global stocks extended losses to the second consecutive week as investors angst about the Federal Reserve tightening monetary policy to control rising inflation subdued appetite for risk assets.
However, global equities pared losses later in the week following resilient U.S labour market data, which reignited hopes of the reflation trade. In the U.S, the DJIA (-0.9%) and S&P (-0.4%) were on course to end the week in the red despite staging a comeback later in the week, following renewed interest in technology stocks.
In Europe, the STOXX Europe (-0.1%) and FTSE 100 (-0.8%) were on course for a second consecutive week of losses as risk appetite waned due to FOMC minutes which showed that officials are considering scaling back bond purchases. In Asia, the Nikkei 225 (+0.8%) was poised for a weekly gain following a strong rebound in the latter part of the week induced by the rally on Wall Street.
In comparison, the SSE (-0.1%) recorded marginal losses as lingering concerns about global inflation dampened sentiments. Elsewhere, the Emerging (MSCI EM: +1.7%) stocks recorded gains on the back of positive sentiments in India (+3.1%) and Brazil (+0.7%), while Frontier (MSCI FM: +1.0%) stocks were on track to close higher following gains in Kuwait (+0.5%).
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