Nigerian Bourse Sheds N16bn as Airtel, Nestlé Dip
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) sheds about N16 billion first week in the new year 2023 due to large knock off on Wednesday when investors lost N430 billion in a day trading session – driven by selloffs in most valuable listed stock, Airtel Africa.
For the week, stockholders actually consolidated on bargain hunting that started seven weeks ago apart from profit taking in the telecom shares. The local bourse was a better hunting ground in 2022, delivered 20% return last year over sustained interest in value, growth stock.
At the close of the first week in the New Year, the benchmark index declined by a marginal 6 basis points week on week to 51,222.34 points and a negative index return of 0.056%.
Similarly, the market capitalisation of listed equities tanked N15.64 billion across four sessions this week to N27.89 trillion from N27.91 trillion in the prior week’s close.
Across the sectors on the NGX, the performance was largely bullish across the most of the indices tracked except for the Industrial sector which trended southward (-0.58%). Nigerian Treasury Bills Yield Falls to 4%, Bonds Steady
On the contrary, the Consumer Goods index led the gainers’ chart this week after closing +6.44% from last week and was followed by Banking (+4.27%), Insurance (+2.68%) and Oil and Gas indices which also gained by +0.06%.
NAHCO share price popped up 16%, NB gained 14.6% and BUAFOODS rose by 14.6% to emerge as top gainers. Meanwhile, the laggards were CHAMPION (-16%), AIRTELAFRI (-5.2%) and NESTLE (-2%).
Market data show that trading activities declined as the total traded volume slumped by 50.96% week on week to 921.86 million and the total traded value plummeted also by 19.12% week on week to N15.36 billion.
However, the total deals traded for the week surged by 29.63% week on week to 15,601 trades. “We believe positioning for 2022FY earnings releases and accompanying dividends declarations will continue to support buying activities on the local bourse even as institutional investors continue to search for clues on the direction of yields in the fixed income market”, Cordros Capital said in a note.
Stockbrokers at Cowry Asset Management said in market report that they anticipate mixed trend on profit taking and positive sentiment to pervade the market in the coming days as bargain hunting activities continues ahead of the January effects and volatility just as the market pullbacks add more strength to the upside potential of the index. # Nigerian Bourse Sheds N16bn as Airtel, Nestlé Dip
