Nigeria’s equities market records four days of loss

The equities market of Africa’s largest economy lost in all the four trading sessions this week as investors remain cautious amid some sell pressure, especially in mid-to-large cap stocks.

At the close of trading session on Thursday December 10, stock investors booked about N232billion loss as buy-side activities declined further.

Stocks like Lafarge Africa Plc, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, and MTN N Plc fuelled the record loss on the Bourse.

The record negative close pushed further down the year-to-date (YtD) positive returns to +28.82percent.

The All Share Exchange decreased by 1.27percent on Thursday, from preceding day high of 35,021.26 points to 34,577.26 points; while the value of listed equities on the bourse stood lower at N18.072trillion from a high of N18.304trillion recorded the preceding trading day. The market opened this week with value of listed stocks at N18.365trillion.

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GTBank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Transcorp Plc and FBN Holdings Plc were actively traded stocks on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). In 6,441 deals, investors exchanged 553,949,909 units valued at N6.6billion.

Analysts expect the market to remain slightly negative in the coming session, noting that investors will continue to watch activities in the fixed income (FI) market while discerning investors take positions in value counters.

The share price of Lafarge Africa Plc dipped most from N22.5 to N20.25, losing N2.25 or 10percent. It was followed by that of Guinness Nigeria Plc which moved down from N17.8 to N16.05, losing N1.75 or 9.83percent, while that of Zenith Bank Plc dropped from a high of
N23.45 to N22, shedding N1.45 or 6.18 percent.

“The weakening investor sentiment remains largely in line with our expectations as our technical charts continue to view the market as overbought.

“That said, we think investors will continue to maintain a cautious approach to investing in the absence of any major positive catalyst. As a result, we anticipate further bearish proceedings for the rest of the week”, United Capital research analysts said in their recent note to investors.