Nigeria’s equities market kicked-off this new week on a negative note amid bearish bias that trails the local bourse this week. Nigerian Breweries topped the league of laggards after losing N1.35 or 2.86 percent, from N47.15 to N45.80. It was followed among other top decliners by Caverton Offshore Support Group which lost 11kobo or 9.57percent, from N1.15 to N1.04.
In their recent stock recommendation, Meristem analysts said, “We highlight that the mood in the market remains largely bearish and expect the mood to persist, as there is no positive catalyst in sight to spur bargain hunting.”
While they did not rule out the possibility of buying interest on a couple of bellwether stocks, which could cause the market to gain further this week, they however expect the market to end the week on a negative note.
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The market’s All-Share Index (ASI) and capitalisation decreased from preceding day’s 49,682.15 points and N26.796trillion respectively to 49,676.75 points and N26.794trillion. The market decreased slightly by 0.01percent on Monday. Investors lost about N2billion at the close of trading. The stock market’s year-to-date (Ytd) positive return printed slightly lower at 16.29percent.
“We expect the market to reverse to a bear market as investors remain cautious about the equity market amidst a rising yield environment and tight system liquidity. However, investors are expected to continue cherry-picking stocks with solid underlying fundamentals,” according to Lagos-based United Capital research analysts in their August 29 note.
Jaiz Bank, Access Holdings, FBN Holdings, Mutual Benefits and Zenith Bank were top-5 traded stocks as investors in 4,425 deals exchanged 232,944,695 shares valued at N2.186billion.
