Bearish performance dominates Nigerian equity market this week

The Nigerian equity market underperformed throughout this week as the benchmark index declined 2.6% week-on-week. 

The NGX All-Share index dipped by 2.6% w/w to 42,167.91 points while YTD return moderated to 4.7%.

The top traded stocks by volume were FBNH (265.6m units), ZENITH (85.1m units), and ACCESS (80.5m units) while FBNH (₦3.1bn), ZENITH (₦2.0bn), and SEPLAT (₦1.1bn) led by value.

Most of the sectors were in the red except the Insurance index which rose 3.0% w/w due to bargain hunting in NEM (+18.4%) and LINKASSURE (+9.8%).

However, the AFR-ICT index recorded the most losses, down 6.0% w/w on account of extended profit-taking in MTNN (-12.1%).

Trailing, the Oil & Gas and Banking indices shed 4.5% and 2.3% w/w respectively driven by sell pressure on SEPLAT (-6.5%), OANDO (-8.7%), GTCO (-3.6%), and ZENITH (-3.5%).

In the same vein, price depreciation in DANGSUGAR (-2.7%), HONYFLOUR (-11.6%), and WAPCO (-1.4%) dragged the Consumer and Industrial Goods indices lower by 0.6% and 0.1% w/w respectively.

This week, 17 stocks advanced against 46 stocks that declined.

The top outperformers for the week were NEM (+18.4%), MEYER (+10.0%), and LINKASSURE (+9.8%) while UPDC (-18.8%), FTNCOCOA (-12.5%), and MTNN (-12.1%) led the laggards.

“In the coming week, we expect the hunt for bargains to drive positive performance in the market,” analysts in Afrinvest projected.