(Greenwich Merchant Bank): The domestic bourse saw no respite this week as index declined for the sixth (6th) straight week. Specifically, the All-Share Index and Market Capitalization dipped 1.7% WoW, with the index below the 39,000.00 points psychological level for the first time since Christmas eve. The Market Capitalization closed at a new year-low of NGN20.2tn, representing a decline of NGN400.0bn from last week. Accordingly, the Year-to-Date (YtD) return came in at -4.0%.
Activity level tanked with the volume and value of units traded down 22.6% and 30.7% to an average of 323.8mn units valued at NGN4.1bn. CHAMPION staged a comeback after plunging last week. Shares of the brewer advanced 45.2% to NGN2.44 despite a poor outing by the company according to its FY:2020 financials as published. Profit printed at NGN158.8mn for FY:2020, 5.8% lower than NGN168.5mn made in the corresponding period of the prior year. Conversely, ETERNA saw the biggest decline (-19.0%) to close at NGN4.62.
Read: Investors at the Bills Market dragged in the bears in search of higher yields
The performance across sectors settled unevenly as the Insurance (2.8%), Consumer Goods (2.2%), and the Oil and Gas (0.6%) sectors closed in the green while the Banking (-5.8%) and the Industrial Goods (-0.1%) sectors closed in the red.
Bears maintained their hold on the equities market save Wednesday’s session (+0.63%). The equities market, therefore, extended its weekly dry spell to the longest (6 weeks) in fifteen (15) months amid watered corporate earnings published for FY:2020 and rising yields in the fixed income space. In the coming week, we anticipate a slight uptick in the market hinged on bargain hunting activities and the expectation of more corporate actions by top tickers.
