Stock market starts week on a negative note

…defies analysts expectation

Nigeria’s equities market started the week on a negative note after declining by 0.73 percent (about N437billion), thereby defying analysts expectation of continuing positive sentiment on the bourse.

Stocks like MTNN (–5.52 percent), Fidelity Bank (-9.37 percent), Jaiz Bank (-7.93 percent), Livestock Feeds (-9.66 percent), and Abbey Mortgage Bank (-9.70 percent) pushed the market lower on Monday.

The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation decreased from preceding day’s 104,421.23 points and N57.158 trillion respectively to 103,659.81 points N56.721trillion.

“Given that the market breadth has remained below 1x for two consecutive weeks, which indicates that more laggards than gainers in those weeks, there are some stocks that present attractive entry prices for investors. Thus, we expect increased buying activities this week.

“Furthermore, we expect investors to remain responsive to new corporate earnings releases. However, we highlight the possibility of limited liquidity ahead of the T-bills auction scheduled this week.

“Also, we highlight the existing negative undertone in the market as a downside. On a balance of factors, we expect the NGXASI to close up,” according to Lagos-based Meristem research analysts.

FBN Holdings, Transcorp, Oando, UBA and Nigerian Breweries were actively traded stocks as investors in 13,674 deals exchanged 841,551,481 shares worth N19.327billion.

“We expect positive sentiments to dominate the market, supported by the commencement of the FY-2023 earning season. We expect bargain-hunting activities across stocks with strong fundamentals and impressive earnings releases.

“We anticipate increased buy-interests towards corporates in the financial services sector due to expectations of strong top-bottom line growth. Meanwhile, dividend scouting investors can also cherry-pick stocks ahead of full-year dividend declarations,” United Capital research analysts said.