NSE ROUNDUP: Market opens year with N537bn loss despite bright short term outlook

The pressure of profit-taking on Nigerian stocks set in motion the first weekly loss of N537.088 billion in the market value of companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) this week.

Particularly striking was the Friday trading session, where sell pressure on industrial stocks Dangote Cement and WAPCO triggered a loss so huge it erased all other daily gains recorded so far this year, plunging the year-to-date return to a negative -0.37%.

Yet, analysts say the outlook for the short term is vibrant by reason of the direction taken by the monetary policy committee at its last November meeting, targeting expansion in the economy.

All the key market performance indicators advanced this week. The market posted a positive breadth as 50 gainers emerged against 21 losers. The All-Share Index and market capitalisation simultaneously dipped by 0.37%. While the former closed at 40,120.22 index points, the latter closed at N20.978 trillion.

Read also: NSE ROUNDUP: Industrial goods stocks emerge best in 2020 with 91% yield

Trade volume of 3.394 billion shares worth N19.867 billion was recorded in 26,808 deals relative to the 1.806 billion shares valued at N25.966 billion posted in 14,634 deals last week.

On the activity chart, the Consumer Goods sector led trade with 2.026 billion shares estimated at N7.503 billion traded in 4,031 deals. Specifically, it added 59.70% and 37.77% to the total equity volume and value respectively. The Financial Services industry came next, trading 939.288 million shares worth N7.820 billion in 14,020 deals. The Conglomerates sector was third, trading 139.822 million shares priced at N182.151 million in 885 deals.

As regards index movement, all indices appreciated save for NSE Premium, NSE Lotus II and NSE Industrial Goods which fell by 2.99%, 1.22% and 2.29% respectively. The NSE ASeM and NSE Growth indices closed flat.

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