Market Sheds N42bn, Oil, Banking Stocks Lead Losers

• Market Sheds N42bn, Oil, Banking Stocks Lead Losers

The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange declined by N42bn at the close of trading on Monday as oil and gas stocks as well as banking stocks led losers on sector basis.

A total of 262.897 million shares valued at N1.747bn exchanged hands in 2,789 deals.

The NSE market capitalisation dropped to N9.147tn from N9.189tn, while the NSE All-Share Index closed at 26,586.56 basis points from 26,707.10 basis points.

The NSE ASI retreated at the start of the week, which is a deviation from the previous week’s record when it posted a five-month high week-on-week return.

All key sectors pulled back into the red at the end of Monday’s trading session, save for the consumer goods sector.

The oil and gas sector led declines for the third straight session following further profit taking in Forte Oil Plc by 9.75 per cent and losses in Seplat Petroleum Development Company Limited by 4.88 per cent.

The financial services sector also snapped an eight-session rally following losses in heavyweights Ecobank Transnational Incorporated Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc by 4.9 per cent and 0.86 per cent, respectively.

The industrial goods sector closed relatively flat. On the other hand, the consumer goods sector bounced back from a four-session losing streak on the back of advances in Guinness Nigeria Plc, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc and Dangote Flour Plc by 9.54 per cent, 4.1 per cent and 2.05 per cent, accordingly. This outstripped losses in Unilever Nigeria Plc and PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc by 4.98 per cent and 1.38 per cent, respectively.

Market breadth remained negative with 18 advances and 30 declines.

On what would shape the next trading session, analysts at Vetiva Capital Management Limited, in the firm’s daily report, said, “We believe the relatively tepid sentiment of the last two trading sessions (as indicated by the negative market breadth) could persist today (Tuesday) given the pressure on certain bellwether stocks.

In the global scene, Asian and European markets traded mostly down with investors awaiting the Bank of Japan final policy review on Tuesday while their European counterparts digested Germany economic data. The United States stocks were up slightly at market open ahead of a speech by the Federal Reserve Chair.

Meanwhile, the interbank call rate advanced 50 basis points to 3.92 per cent amid a relatively unchanged system liquidity. At the foreign exchange interbank market, the naira held at N305 against the dollar at the spot market whilst the one year forward rate rose by N29 to settle at N378.00.

Expectedly the fixed income market opened the week to selloffs as bearish sentiment initially triggered by the recently released inflation figures persisted. In the Treasury bills market, yields climbed 42 basis points on average with selling weighted on the short end of the curve.

The most significant advances were seen on the yields of the 10 day-to-maturity, 17DTM and 31DTM bills settling at 9.25 per cent, 12.38 per cent and 14.57 per cent, respectively.

Similarly, yields on the benchmark bonds rose six basis points on average in the bond market. Particularly, yields on the 16.39 per cent January FGN 2022 and 12.1493 per cent FGN July 2034 bonds were up five basis points and six basis points to 15.73 per cent and 15.63 per cent, respectively.