Stock market opens week on a negative note

Nigeria’s equities market opened this new week on a negative note, down by 0.52 percent or N300billion at the close of trading on Monday.

The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation depreciated from 102,314.56 points N57.860trillion respectively to 101,777.12 points and N57.560 trillion.

Read also: Nigeria’s stock market to see a decline in the second quarter

Fidelity Bank led the losers league after its share price lowered from N10 to N9, down by N1 or 10 percent.

Also, Jaiz Bank dropped from N2.27 to N2.05, down by 22 kobo or 9.69 percent. Also, GTCO made the top losers league after decreasing from N41.40 to N38.20, down by N3.20 or 7.73 percent.

“This week, we expect bearish sentiments amongst investors to persist in the local equities market given the attractive returns offered in the fixed-income market.

“The impact of the high yields in the fixed-income market will continue to drive sell-offs as investors switch their asset classes to less risky assets,” United Capital research analysts said in their recent note.

Month-to-date (MtD), the stock market has decreased by 2.66 percent. The market’s year-to-date (YtD) return also printed lower at 36.12 percent. In 10,777 deals, investors exchanged 326,639,575 shares worth
N7.169billion.

Also, Meristem research analysts said they anticipate dampened activity in the local bourse this week “as we foresee little or no positive triggers that could spur buying interests during the week.

“Also, we envisage minimal flow of fund from the equities market to the fixed income market as investors have largely priced in the expected stop rates at the upcoming Bonds
auction”.

Read also: Elevated fixed income yields expected to dampen stock market

“We also expect continued profit-taking activities on certain tickers with elevated prices. However, we do not rule out the possibilities of bargain hunting activities as investors taking position ahead of the release of first quarter (Q1) 2024 earnings results. Overall, we expect the NGXASI to close in the red zone next week,” they added.