Stock market declines 0.95% in August
May rebound this week
Trading activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, will resume tomorrow (Tuesday), as the country observes a national public holiday in commemoration of the Eid-el Kabir Muslim Festival.
However, analysis of equities market performance in the week ended Thursday, August 31st, 2017, showed repressed figures, as profit taking by investors drove last week’s WtD returns to a negative 3.12 per cent, Month-to-Date to a negative 0.95 per cent, while Year-to-Date return moderated to 32.11per cent.
The NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalization depreciated by 3.12 per cent each to close the week at 35,504.62 points and N12.237 trillion respectively, while all other Indices finished lower during the week with the exception of the NSE Insurance and NSE Oil/Gas Indices that appreciated by 1.90 per cent and 0.29 per cent respectively. The NSE ASeM Index, however, remained unchanged.
The four-day trading week shortened by the Federal Government of Nigeria’s declaration of Friday,1st and Monday 4th of September, 2017, as Public Holidays in commemoration of the Eid -el- Kabir celebrations, ended with the Consumer Goods recording the largest loss of 2.88 per cent
This was as a result of sell-offs in Guinness, which declined by 7.36 per cent, Nigerian Breweries that dropped -5.25 per cent, and Unilever that lost 4.87 per cent.
Similarly, the Industrial Goods and Banking indices recorded negative returns of 2.48 per cent and 2.36 per cent this week, driven by profit-taking in the shares of Dangote Cement that dropped 5.09 per cent, and UBA that fell 6.19 per cent.
On the other hand, the Insurance index rebounded from previous week’s loss to record the largest gain of 1.90 per cent, following renewed interest in the shares of Continental Reinsurance that appreciated 13.95per cent, Custodian and Allied Insurance that grew 5.26 per cent, and MANSARD that increased 2.63 per cent.
Following the 13.01 per cent and 1.76 per cent gains recorded by Total and Seplat, the Oil & Gas index posted a positive return of 0.29 per cent last week.
The NSE’s weekly report revealed that Cutix with a growth of 24.38 per cent, led 19 equities that appreciated in price during the week, lower than 32 of the previous week.
Mobil now 11 Plc, lost 14.25 per cent to lead 48 equities that depreciated in price, which were higher than 40 equities of the previous week, while 104 equities remained unchanged higher 99 equities recorded in the preceding week.
Meanwhile, a total turnover of 998.973 million shares worth N11.455 billion in 13,626 deals was traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange in contrast to a total of 1.538 billion shares valued at N24.218bn that exchanged hands last week in 19,187 deals.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart, with 838.247 million shares valued at N5.134bn traded in 7,884 deals; thus contributing 83.91 per cent and 44.82 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Consumer Goods Industry followed with 45.589 million shares worth N3.225bn in 2,759 deals.
The third place was occupied by Conglomerates Industry with a turnover of 35.563 million shares worth N60.673m in 627 deals.
Trading in the top three Equities was Custodian and Allied Plc, Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc. (measured by volume). They accounted for 383.065 million shares worth N829.743 million in 650 deals, contributing 38.34 per cent and 7.24 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
With the earnings season now over, financial market analysts said that the performance, during the weeks broadly reflected the absence of any fundamental driver.
“Activity in the market this (last) week broadly reflects the absence of fundamental stimulus with Q2 earnings’ season now over. We believe the market movement will be driven by developments in the local economy, with intense volatility in the weeks ahead,” Says Cordros Capital Investment Research Analyst.
Afolabi Adesola
