Nigeria’s bullish stocks’ party closing? Bearish sentiments pare index 2.3%
Reporter
For the second consecutive trading session, sentiments at the Nigeria stock market remained bearish Tuesday, an indication that the bullish trend for the past three weeks, which was first cut short last Thursday, may have started slowing as more investors continue to bargain for profit on value stocks.
At the close of trade, the benchmark index recorded a 2.3 percent decline to settle at 37,096.60 points as profit taking further hits the market.
Market performance was largely influenced by negative sentiment towards DANGECEM (-4.3%) as well as profit taking in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.6%), STANBIC (-5.0%), GUARANTY (-1.5%) and WAPCO (-4.8%).
Consequently, year-to-date gain pared to 38.0 percent. Accordingly, stock prices lost N294.5 billion as market capitalization settled at N12.8 trillion.
Other stocks that contributed to a further drop in the benchmark index include NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.6%), as well as profit taking in STANBIC (-5.0%), GUARANTY (-1.5%) and WAPCO (-4.8%).
However, market activity improved as volume and value traded surged 23.9 percent and 28.7 percent to settle at 391.6 million units and N5.4 billion respectively.
Performance across sectors was largely bearish as all indices closed in the red.
The industrial goods index waned the most, dipping 4.2 percent owing to a decline in the price of DANGCEM (-4.3%). The banking index followed, shedding 1.2 percent on account of losses in STANBIC (-5.0%) and GUARANTY (-1.5%).
Likewise, the insurance and consumer goods index dipped 1.0 percent apiece on the back of sell pressures on MANSARD (-4.7%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES(-1.6%) while negative sentiment towards FORTE (-4.6%) and OANDO (-1.4%) dragged the oil & gas sector 0.4 percent lower.
Investor sentiment, measured by market breadth significantly declined to 0.3x (from 0.7x recorded Monday). Thus, investor sentiment waned today as 11 stocks advanced against 35 losers.
The best performing stocks were GLAXOSMITH (+5.0%), BERGER (+5.0%) and GOLDBREW (+4.7%) while MORRISON (-8.2%), PZ (-5.0%) and STANBIC (-5.0%) were the worst performers.
Whilst the performance today was dragged by profit taking in value stocks that had appreciated in the previous weeks, analysts say they do not expect the downtrend to persist beyond the short term as positive developments in the economy continue to bolster investors’ appetite for equities.