Profit-taking shaves 172 billion naira off the Nigerian stock market in a week – The Sun Nigeria

By Chinwendu Obienyi

Procedure at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) closed last week in the red as bouts of profit taking in heavyweight stocks sent the All Share Index (ASI) down 0.67% from a week on week (w/w).

In what can be considered a quiet week of trading, the local stock exchange traded in narrow bands before settling at 46,964.23 points due to depreciation in shares of Nestlé, UBA, GTCO , MTNN and Lafarge.

As a result, the market’s year-to-date (YTD) yield fell to 9.9% from 10.7% the previous week, while 172 billion naira was cut from market capitalization w/w for close at 25.311 trillion naira.

Similarly, all the other indices ended lower, except for the NGX AFR Div Yield and NGX Meri Growth indices, which appreciated by 1.81% and 0.01% respectively, while the NGX ASeM and NGX Growth closed flat.

The negative sentiment also affected the selling of shares in the market as a total turnover of 1.176 billion shares worth N16.601 billion in 21,076 trades were traded by investors on the floor , as opposed to a total of 2.449 billion shares worth 20.653 naira. billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 20,764 transactions.

The financial services sector (measured by volume) topped the business chart with 954.472 million shares valued at N10.217 billion traded in 12,700 transactions; thus contributing 81.14% and 61.55% respectively to the volume and value of the total stock turnover. The consumer goods industry followed with 63.728 million shares worth N3.439 billion in 2,720 deals, while the conglomerate industry recorded a turnover of 53.313 million shares of worth N258.568 million in 711 transactions.

Trading in the top three stocks, namely Fidelity Bank Plc, United Bank For Africa Plc and Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (measured by volume), accounted for 456.971 million shares worth N4.469 billion in 4,982 trades , contributing 38.85% and 26.92%. respectively to the volume and the value of the total rotation of the shares.

Assessing market performance, analysts say they expect the market to trade sideways when it picks up today as bargain hunter activity on dividend-paying stocks dries up in due to the end of the 2021 earnings season.

Cordros Capital, in an emailed research note, said: “Risk-averse investors are likely to maintain profit-taking activity in anticipation of rising IF yields. Nonetheless, we reiterate the need to only position ourselves in fundamentally sound stocks, as the weak macroeconomic environment remains a significant headwind to corporate earnings.”

Twenty-four (24) stocks rose during the week, up from twenty-one (21) stocks the previous week. Forty-four (44) stocks depreciated in price, less than forty-five (45) stocks the previous week, while eighty-eight (88) stocks remained unchanged below the ninety ( 90) actions recorded the previous week.

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