Negative sentiments witnessed on the equity sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) persisted until the close of transactions last week, causing investors’ wealth to depreciate further by N141 billion or 1.03 per cent.While the market had closed positively on Monday and Thursday, the appreciations recorded in the two trading sessions were not able to lift the market indicators.
Specifically, the NSE All-Share Index (ASI) and market capitalisation depreciated by 1.03 per cent to close the week at 27,630.46 points and N13.464 trillion respectively.
Similarly, all other indices finished lower with the exception of NSE ASeM and NSE Industrial Goods Indices, which appreciated by 0.17 per cent and 0.98 per cent respectively. Analysts linked the prolonged negative sentiments to the prevailing low liquidity and confidence crises that have bedeviled the market in the past few years.
The Chief Research Officer of Investdata Consulting Limited, Ambrose Omodion, said: “So far, the half-year earnings released have been weak, with most of them missing expectations and forecasts, prompting negative price reactions in the midst of the prevailing low liquidity and even confidence crisis.
“These are certainly major factors that have prolonged the negative market sentiments, in addition to the weak productivity and consumptions, as earnings reporting season officially closed with the month of July. Also, analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited said: “We believe that the bearish run would persist as investors maintain a risk-off approach towards investing in the domestic equities market. However, we see opportunities for bargain hunting in stocks with sound fundamentals.”
Last week, a turnover of 759.266 million shares worth N14.038 billion was recorded in 16,209 deals, in contrast to with 1.069 billion shares valued at N11.393 billion, exchanged in 16,346 deals during the previous week. The financial services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 495.646 million shares valued at N5.150 billion, traded in 7,832 deals, thus contributing 65.28 per cent to the total equity turnover.
The conglomerates industry followed with 68.261 million shares worth N136.849 million in 896 deals, trailed by ICT industry with a turnover of 53.931 million shares worth N4.726 billion in 849 deals. Trading in the top three equities namely, Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and United Bank For Africa Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 237.878 million shares worth N4.218 billion in 3,555 deals, contributing 31.33 per cent to the total equity turnover volume.
