Bargain hunt to persist after N41.8bn NGX loss on extended profit-taking

ON THE LO CAL BOURSE last week, there was a slight recovery in the banking space with the market trading bearish as most of the sectors closed in the red due to extended profit-taking that brought about a N41.8 billion loss for investors as the NGX All-Share Index fell 0.16 percent week on week to close at 47,202.30 points while the market year to date return declined to 10.5 percent and the market capitalisation week on week to N25.43 trillion from N25.47 trillion last week.

For market analysts, this week is expected to start off with mixed sentiment with bargain hunting activities, amid cherry-picking activities on relatively attractive stocks from market investors.

Across the market, the activity level was mixed as average volume traded fell 25.4 percent week on week to 266.1 million units, while average value traded rose 15.7 percent week on week to N3.8 billion. The top traded stocks by volume last week were

Guaranty Trust Holding Company with 97.1 million units, Access Bank followed with 80.6 million units, and Transnational Corporation trading a total of 78.7 million units; while Guaranty Trust Holding Company recorded N2.7 billion, Seplat Energies had N2.2 billion, and MTN Nigeria joined the list of stocks that led the week by value with N1.9 billion.

Across the sectoral front of the equities market, the performance was bullish as the banking index led the gainers’ chart by gaining 2.3 percent week on week on the back of buying interest in Ecobank International (+3.3%) and Access Bank (+2.9%). Staying behind was the Insurance and Consumer goods indices which advanced by 1.5 percent and 1.3 percent week on week respectively on the back of bargain hunting on SUNU Assurance (+30.0%), AXA Mansard (+6.4%), Guinness Nigeria (+24.6%), and Flour Mills of Nigeria(+10.6%).

Equally, price appreciation in Total Energies (+9.9%), Ardova Plc (+1.6%), and Lafarge Plc (+0.9%) drove the Oil & Gas and Industrial goods indices higher by 0.3 percent and 0.1 percent week on week in that order and on the other hand, the ICT index recorded losses as it declined 0.5 percent week on week due to selling pressure on MTN Nigeria (-1.1%).

As measured by market breadth, investor sentiment continued in its unchanged position from the past week at 0.1x as 42 stocks gained, 31 lost and 79 were unbothered. The top outperforming stocks for the week were SCOA (+42.4%), RT Brisco Plc (+39.3%), and SUNU Assurance (+30.0%), while Eko Pharmacy (-16.7%), Okomu Oil (-10.0%), and Juli (-9.9%) were the top underperforming stocks.

Elsewhere, the NGX 30 Index closed the week decreasing by 0.07 percent to close at 1,805.40 points as against 1,804.19 points on the previous week’s close. Market turnover closed the week with traded volume of 147.54 million units. Guinness Nigeria and Sterling were the key gainers, while International Breweries and First Bank Holding were the key losers.