Trading at the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited sustained a downward trend in the just concluded week, as quoted companies continued to turn in their year-end financial statements.
For the third consecutive week, the index movement fell as the NGX All-Share Index and market capitalisation depreciated by 0.23 per cent and 0.26 per cent to close at 46,842.86 and N25.25tn respectively.
The domestic stock market saw yet another sell-off amid bearish sentiment, as investors lost N58 at the close of the week’s trading.
Berger Paints, Zenith Bank, Regency Assurance, Red Star Express and UPDC led the losers’ table as their share prices moderated by 18 per cent, 16.73 per cent, 16.22 per cent, 14.29 per cent and 13.64 per cent to close at N6.15, N22.40, 0.31k, N2.70 and 0.76k respectively.
In the same vein, all the sectors tracked closed in the negative zone amid sustained profit-taking. The banking, insurance, consumer goods, oil and gas and industrial goods indices fell by 7.13 per cent, 0.27 per cent, 1.83 per cent, 3.41 per cent and 0.07 per cent respectively to close at 409.38bps, 185.03bps, 554.16bps, 426.94bps and 2,115.10bps.
During the week under review, turnover of 1.289 billion shares worth N13.55bn in 22,118 deals was traded by investors on the floor of NGX, in contrast to 1.176 billion shares valued at N16.60bn that exchanged hands in the week before in 21,076 deals.
The financial services industry, measured by volume, led the activity chart with 851.598 million shares valued at N7.52bn in 11,930 deals and contributed 66.07 per cent and 55.49 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
While the conglomerates industry followed with 174.588 million shares worth N569.03m in 1,095 deals, the Information and Communications Technology industry recorded a turnover of 77.571 million shares worth N2.25bn in 1,458 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Fidelity Bank, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria and Access Holdings, measured by volume, accounted for 426.566 million shares worth N1.78bn in 3,307 deals and contributed 33.10 per cent and 13.12 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
However, Meyer, Cornerstone Insurance, PZ Cussons Nigeria, Axamansard Insurance and Beta Glass topped the gainers’ table, as their share prices rose by 30.91 per cent, 13.79 per cent, 13.44 per cent, 11.63 per cent and 9.92 per cent to close at 0.72k, 0.66k, N10.55, N2.40 and N58.20 respectively.
In the new week, analysts expect the Nigerian stock market index to close in the negative territory, as more companies’ share prices were marked down for dividend qualification.
“We feel that investors would use this opportunity to accumulate stock with strong fundamentals,” researchers at Cowry Asset Management said.
