The second week of February begin on a negative footing for the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), as its benchmark index, the All-Share Index dropped 144.78 points (-0.35%) to close Monday’s trading session at 41,564.3 points, having started the session at 41,709.09.
The Market Capitalization shade N74.402 billion, to settle at N21.744 trillion, having hit N22.059 trillion for the first time on 28th January, 2021.
The bearish performance can be attributed to profit-taking in Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, PZ Cussons Plc and Champion Breweries Plc.
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The YTD performance of the index moderated to 3.21%, while Investor’s gain got reduced to N687.390 billion after just a month and a week of trading in 2021.
Activity level
The activity level waned, as both volume and value of shares traded on Monday decreased. While the volume of shares traded decreased by 29.45% to 340.28 million from the 482.32 million shares traded in the last trading session, the value of shares traded declined by 52.68% to N2.640 billion from the N5.579 billion recorded in preceding session.
Shares of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc (UBN) was the most traded by volume, with 78.808 million shares worth N457.063 million exchanging hands on the day. Shares of FBN Holdings Plc (FBNH) and Access Bank Plc (ACCESS) were the second and third most traded stocks by volume with 54.245 million and 33.956 million shares respectively.
UBN and FBNH were also the most traded and second most traded stocks by value, while UBN had shares worth N457.063 million exchanging hands, FBNH had shares worth N396.421 million exchanging hands.
Shares of Zenith Bank Plc (ZENITHBANK) were the third most traded stocks by value, with 14.166 million shares worth N368.610 million exchanging hands in 398 deals.
There was muted activity on the Guaranty Trust Bank Plc counter, as only 2.974 million shares valued at N97.932 million was traded in 336 deals.
Performance of Indices
All indices under our watch except the Industrial Goods Index depreciated in the day’s trading session;
- Industrial Goods Index advanced by 0.05% on the back of mild gains in WAPCO (+0.75%)
- Oil and Gas Index declined by 0.01%, as ETERNA (-0.87%) recorded loses
- Consumer Goods Index declined by 0.26%, as profit taking in CHAMPION (-9.75%) as well as loses in UNILEVER (-2.05%) and FLOURMILL (-1.43%) weighed down the index
- Insurance Index declined by 0.84% pulled down by CORNERST (-923%) and AIICO (-2.48%)
- Banking Index suffered heavy decline; 2.68% as GUARANTY (-8.75%) endured maximum lose possible
Investor Sentiment
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) increased to 1.3x from the 0.4x recorded previously as 21 stocks gained against 16 losers.
Top 5 gainers by percentage are;
- MCNICHOLS gained 9.59% to close at N0.80
- UPDCREDIT gained 9.09% to close at N6.00
- MULTIVERSE gained 8.33% to close at N0.26
- FIDSON gained 8.30% to close at N6.00
- AFRIPRUD gained 8.21% to close at N7.25
Top 5 losers by percentage are;
- CHAMPION lost 9.75% to close at N2.50
- PZ lost 9.73% to close at N5.10
- JAIZBANK lost 9.72% to close at N0.65
- CORNERST lost 9.23% to close at N0.59
- RTBRISCOE lost 9.09% to close at N0.20
Outlook
We expect portfolio realignment by Investors ahead of the dividend season to dictate market direction in the near term.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur
