NSE: Stock Market Halts Four-Day Decline as ASI Rebounds by 0.26%

The local bourse recorded a bearish performance this week as the sustained profit taking in bellwethers dragged the market index on 4 of 5 trading sessions.

The Stock Market, which opened on a negative note this week, closed for the week on a positive note after it had recorded four straight declines.

Benchmark index of the Nigeria Stock Market (NSE), the All-Share index (ASI), however, was bucked after the close of market on Friday as ASI rose by 26bps, while the Year-to-Date (YTD) return weakened to 7.3%. Market capitalization of quoted equities fell to N14.9tn from N14.8tn, making investors lost N71.1bn in value.

The ASI which indicates the bearish performance slid by 4bps, 18bps and 40bps on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and shedding 50bps Week-on-Week (W-o-W) to settle at 40,.022.31 points on the back of continued sell offs of Dangote Cement, Nigerian Breweries, Forte Oil, Guaranty Trust Bank and Unilever Plc.

Read also: Minimum wage review may push up cost of living – FDC

The negative performance in the week was largely contributed by profit taking in bellwethers like Dangote Cement which lost 0.2% in share value, Nigeria Breweries shedding 3.5% and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. which dropped by 2.3%.

Also, activities level in the market weakened as the volume and value of transacted equities dipped by 4.7% and 0.2% to 317m units and N5.2bn respectively.

FCMB, Guaranty Trust Bank and FCMB which traded 310m volume of shares valued at N777.3m, 246.2m worth N11.2bn and 136.3m shares valued at N3.7bn respectively emerged the most active stocks in the week.

Sector performance was mixed as 3 of 5 indices closed in the green as the Consumer and Industrial Goods took a downward trend on W-o-W by 1.9% and 0.02% respectively due to sell offs in Nigerian Breweries and Dangote Cement.

On the other hand, the gains recorded by Linkage Assurance Plc. (+11.8%) and AXA Mansard Insurance Plc. (+4.7) pushed the Insurance index up by 0.8% W-o-W while the Banking and Oil & Gas indices trailed with 0.5% and 0.1% rise on W-o-W as a result of bargain hunting in Zenith (+5.1%), Fidelity (+4.1%) and Eterna (+20.7%).

Analysts at Afrinvest Securities expressed optimism, despite the bearish performance of equities market, that market indices would rebound in the coming week amid bargain hunting opportunities.

“Although the equities market performance was bearish this week, we anticipate a rebound in the coming week as investors take advantage of bargain hunting opportunities in the market,” they said.

You may also like: Senate to pass 2018 budget May 16

The Nigerian Senate are expected lay and pass the report of the 2018 Budget this week after the plenary was cancelled on Thursday and adjourned to Tuesday next week to allow members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus prepare for the Local Government Area congresses of the party holding on Saturday.

The budget had been delayed for over six months, making it the most delayed budget in nineteen years.

Also, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is expected to release the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for April in the coming week ahead of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting slated to hold between May 21 and 22.

Analysts expect the Headline Inflation (Y-o-Y) to slid below 13% to make the 15 consecutive decline after reaching 12-year in January 2017.
By Oluwasegun Olakoyenikan…

 

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now