Capital market analysts have stated that the current trend of corrections on equities prices are expected to persist as market fundamentals undergo changes amidst increasing volatility, portfolio rebalancing, and sector rotation by investors and fund managers.
The equities market experienced another week of bearish sentiment as the bourse witnessed market-wide negative sentiment on a low-traded volume and value as investors offload their equities holding despite the influx of strong earnings performance report by the top Banks as well as impressive payout ratio by growth in dividend seen so far.
The market’s pullback was attributed to mixed corporate earnings and economic headwinds, compounded by anticipation surrounding the publication of consumer price inflation data for March.
Analysts Optimism
On market outlook, the chief operating officer of InvestData Consulting Limited said, “we expect a mixed sentiment and position taking as players digest banking earnings with dividend announcements, while taking advantage of low valuation to position and rebalancing portfolio.
“This is amid the volatility and pullbacks that add more strength to upside potential. As such, investors should take advantage of price correction. Also looking at the trends and events across the globe and domestically.”
Looking ahead to the new week, analysts at Cowry Assets Management Limited said, “the current trend of corrections is expected to persist as market fundamentals undergo changes amidst increasing volatility, portfolio rebalancing, and sector rotation by investors and fund managers.
“We think investors will closely monitor expected earnings numbers, published macroeconomic data and government policy direction for further guidance. Meanwhile, we continue to advise investors on taking positions in stocks with sound fundamentals.”
Last Week’s Trading Activities
The local stock market wrapped up the week on a gloomy note, as the market opened for two trading days last week as the federal government declared April 9 to 11, 2024 as public holidays to commemorate Eid al-Fitr celebration.
The benchmark index posted a decline of 1.09 per cent week-on-week (W-o-W) to close at 102,314.56 points. Also, the market capitalization shed N633 billion week on week to N57.865 trillion.
On the sectoral performance, it was a market-wide bearish performance as the NGX-Banking index led the laggards by 7.22 per cent week on week. NGX Insurance index recorded a weekly decline of 2.45 per cent, while NGX Consumer Goods index shed 1.33 per cent W-o-W.
NGX Oil & Gas index down by 0.28 per cent and NGX Industrial Goods index fell by 0.23 per cent for the week.
Market breadth for the week was negative as 19 equities appreciated in price, 40 equities depreciated in price, while 95 equities remained unchanged. Morison Industries led the gainers table by 20.75 per cent to close at N2.56, per share. Oando followed with a gain of 10.57 per cent to close at N12.55, while Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) went up by 10.33 per cent to close to N14.95, per share.
On the other side, Access Holdings led the decliners table by 14.60 per cent to close at N19.30, per share. United Capital followed with a loss of 13.92 per cent to close at N20.10, while Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) declined by 13.75 per cent to close at N41.40, per share.
Overall, a total turnover of 1.132 billion shares worth N28.650 billion in 21,921 deals was traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 3.680 billion shares valued at N57.892 that exchanged hands prior week in 40,726 deals.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 859.646 million shares valued at N20.624 billion traded in 12,297 deals; contributing 75.94 per cent and 71.99 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Conglomerates Industry followed with 107.940 million shares worth N1.461 billion in 1,346 deals, while the Consumer Goods Industry traded a turnover of 51.443 million shares worth N1.921 billion in 2,658 deals.
Trading in the top three equities; United Bank for Africa (UBA), Zenith Bank and Abbey Mortgage Bank accounted for 447.033 billion shares worth N10.745 billion in 3,513 deals, contributing 39.49 per cent and 37.50 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
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