Nigeria’s stock market opened this week on a negative note, after declining by 0.58percent or N168billion on Monday. The record dip pushed lower market’s positive return this year and this month to 25.88percent and 8.33percent respectively.
No thanks to stocks like Presco which led others that topped the laggards league. Presco share price dipped by N18, from day-open high N180 to N162, down by 10percent.
It was followed by May & Baker which decreased from N4.34 to N4.01, shedding 33kobo or 7.60percent; Wema Bank which was down from N3.65 to N3.40, losing 25kobo or 6.85percent; and University Press which decreased from N2.85 to N2.60, shedding 25kobo or 8.77percent.
The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation decreased from 54,085.3 points and N29.157trillion respectively to 53,772.14 points and N28.989trillion.
Read also: Nigeria’s stocks gain over N590bn in rate-hike week
“We expect sentiments to remain soft and could support further profit taking, particularly if fixed income yields continue to surge in light of the MPR rate hike. Nevertheless, we advise investors not to panic and rather take advantage of the dip to increase positions in attractively priced fundamental stocks,” said analysts at Lagos-based United Capital.
Union Bank, Transcorp, Access Bank, Jaiz Bank, and Sterling Bank were most traded stocks on the Exchange on Monday. In 4,586 deals, investors exchanged 27,564,562,311 units valued at N194.356billion.
“This week, barring any significant gain on heavy-weight tickers, we expect the market to close in the negative zone. We see room for profit taking activities on tickers that have gained appreciably in recent weeks.
“Likewise, we consider the recent uptick in rates in the fixed income environment and how this may negatively impact investors’ participation in the equities market. Overall, we expect the market to close in the negative region this week,” Meristem analysts said in their May 30 note to investors.
