Stocks Appreciate N3.9Bn despite Waning Investors Sentiment
The equities segment of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) bucked bearish trend Wednesday as the local bourse gains N3.9 trillion despite shrinking investors’ sentiment.
At the close of trading, the domestic stock market was mildly dominated by bullish sentiment as the benchmark index went up by 2 basis points. Market appreciation happened due to buying interest in MTNN (+1.1%), NESTLE (+3.3%), and STANBIC (+3.1%).
Consequently, the All-Share index settled at 38,774.03 points, year to date loss remained at -3.7% and market capitalisation appreciated to ₦20.3 trillion. Trading activity improved as volume and value traded escalated 58.7% and 95.6% respectively to 356.5 million units and ₦4.2 billion.
The most traded stocks by volume were ZENITH (55.0 million units), ACCESS (38.4 million units), and TRANSCORP (31.9 million units) while ZENITH (₦1.2 billion), GUARANTY (₦819.1 million), and NESTLE (₦521.4 million) led by value.
Bearish Sector Performance
Afrinvest said in a market report that performance across sectors under its coverage was bearish as 4 out of 6 indicators closed negative. The Banking index led the laggards, down 3.1% due to price depreciation in ZENITH (-4.1%), GUARANTY (-3.3%) and ACCESS (-2.5%).
Similarly, the Insurance, Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods indices declined by 1.7%, 0.3% and 0.1% respectively on sell-offs in MANSARD (-3.0%), AIICO (-0.8%), ARDOVA (-3.7%) and WAPCO (-2.3%).
Conversely, the Consumer Goods and AFR-ICT indices improved by 1.9% and 0.5% respectively on the back of buying interest in NESTLE (+3.3%), FLOURMIL (+6.9%), and MTNN (+1.1%).
Investor Sentiment Weakens
Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, continued to shrink to 0.4x from 0.7x recorded previously as 11 stocks advanced against 27 decliners.
JAIZBANK (+10.0%), INITSPLC (+9.5%) and ROYALEX (+8.3%) were the top gainers while PHARMDEK (-9.5%), STERLNBA (-9.5%) and PRESTIGE (-8.7%) were the top decliners.
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“In subsequent trading sessions, we anticipate that the equities market will sustain a positive momentum”, Afrinvest.
Stocks Appreciate N3.9Bn despite Waning Investors Sentiment
