Stock Market Bleeds as Dangote, Airtel Africa Shares Fall
There was a bloodbath in the Nigerian Exchange as the local bourse ended in the red. The market records about N237 billion loss as investors began to rebalance their respective portfolios amidst the third-quarter earnings season.
Stockbrokers noted that the outpour of earnings releases drove negative sentiments with the benchmark index declining by 1.06% week on week, closing below 43,912.64 points.
This comes as investors take into the sectoral rotation as year-end seasonality draws closer, according to market analysts at Cowry Asset Management Limited. In particular, the decline seen in the week in the stock market was fuelled by investors’ decision to take profit in Dangote and Airtel Africa – leading the 31 stocks that depreciated last week.
Specifically noted is the fact that Airtel Africa has suffered large price depreciation despite its successful share buyback as investors move found value in its shares listed on London Stock Exchange – following wide price gaps and weak Naira.
Trading data from the local bourse shows that the Nigerian Exchange All-share index dropped by 1.1% last week to 43,912.64 points. The decline in key performance indicators reflects on stock market returns.
In its market report, Afrinvest stated that year-to-date return moderated to 2.8%, down from 3.9% in the previous week while market capitalisation shed ₦236.6 billion to ₦23.9 trillion. Stockbrokers reported that trading activity weakened as average volume and value traded fell 36.1% and 14.8% to 119.8 million units and ₦2.8 trillion respectively.
The top traded stocks by volume were MBENEFIT (95.8m units), STERLING (40.5m units), and TRANSCORP (27.0m units) while AIRTELAF (₦3.9bn), MTNN (₦1.8bn), and GEREGU (₦1.3bn) topped the value table.
In its market report, stockbrokers at Atlass Portfolios noted that investors’ buying interest was dominant in three, out of the five-trading day of the week. NEM emerged as the top loser for the week, declining by -15.16%, followed by HONYFLOUR which fell by -11.25%.
Still, on the losers’ chart, UNILEVER, PHARMDEKO, ROYALEX, NGXGROUP, UCAP, ACCESS and OANDO also recedes by -10.42%, – 9.76%, -9.64%, -4.42%, -4.40%, – 4.35% and -2.00% respectively. READ: Nigerian Exchange in Bloodbath as ‘Big Names’ Drive Losses
Furthermore, three out of the five major sectors closed bearish, led by the Insurance sector (-2.38%), followed by the Consumer goods Sector (-0.36%), and the Oil & Gas sector (-0.24%). The Industrial and Banking sectors expanded by 0.34% and 0.07% respectively.
Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, weakened to -0.02x from 0.04x recorded last week as 29 stocks gained, 31 lost while 92 were unchanged. The top performing stocks for the week were RTBRISCO (+17.9%), BUACEMENT (+12.9%), and FTNCOCOA (+11.1%).
For this week, Afrinvest anticipates extended bearish momentum as investors continue to rotate into high-yielding fixed-income assets. #Stock Market Bleeds as Dangote, Airtel Africa Shares Fall
