Bank stock selloffs power bears’ dominance in N25bn investors’ losses

Analysts project uptick in fixed income rate to drive more stock selloffs

THE BEARS MAINTAINED DOMINANCE on the local equities market with sell-offs in banking stocks giving fuel following a sustained uptick in the fixed income market.

As a result, the NSE AllShare Index fell 0.20 per cent week-on-week to settle at 38,808.01 points as the market year-to-date loss intensified to -3.6 per cent, while market capitalisation fell by N25.1 billion week-onweek to N20.31 trillion from N20.186 trillion, due to trading interest found in banking stocks. Also, the activity level was mixed as the average volume traded advanced 13.9 per cent to 221.8 million units while the total value of deals traded declined 6.4 per cent to N2.3 billion. However, the top traded stocks by volume were Fidelity Bank (144.6m units), Access Bank (87.3m units) and First Bank Holding (68.6m units) while GTBank (N1.7 billion), Zenith Bank (N895.6 million), and Access Bank (N705.6 million) led by value.

It was also a bearish performance across the sectoral front as five out of six sectors had southwardly performances. The insurance index led the laggards declining by 4.2 per cent week on week following sell-offs in Mutual Benefit Assurance (-12.8%), AXA Mansard Insurance (-8.2%) and Custodian Insurance (-17.9%).

Similarly, the banking and consumer goods indices fell by 1.5 per cent and 0.6 per cent week on week respectively on the back of profit-taking in Access Bank (-5.6%), Sterling Bank (-5.1%), Dangote Sugar (-0.3%) and Nigerian Breweries (-1.8%). The oil & gas and ICT indices fell by 0.3 per cent apiece on the back of price depreciation in Oando Plc (-4.1%) and MTN Nigeria (-0.5%). Alternatively, the industrial goods index rose 0.9 per cent week on week due to buying interest in Dangote Cement (+2.3%).

On the other hand, the investor sentiment as measured by market breadth worsened to 0.3x from the 0.4x recorded last week as 16 stocks gained against 46 stocks that lost. The top-performing stocks for the week are FTN Cocoa Processing Company (+16.3%), Morrison Industry (+9.3%), and the Royal Exchange Company (+8.3%), while Custodian Pensions (-17.9%), Northern Nigerian Flour Mills (-13.7%) and Mutual Benefits Assurance (-12.8%) are the top underperforming stocks.

Elsewhere, at the close of the week, the NSE 30 index recorded an increase of 0.63 per cent to close at 1,541.39 points as against 1,531.72 points. Market turnover closed with a traded volume of 162.94 million units. Guinness Nigeria Plc and Unilever Plc were the key gainers, while Sterling Bank and FCMB were the key losers.