Weak Market Sentiment Weighs on Nigerian Stock Exchange Last Week

• Weak Market Sentiment Weighs on Nigerian Stock Exchange Last Week

Investors at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) stayed mainly on the sideline last week as economic uncertainty continues to hurt market sentiment.

The NSE All-Share Index declined by 0.72 percent or 174.07 basis points from 24,045.40 it closed in the previous week to settle at 23,871.33 basis points for the week under review. While the market capitalization of listed equities also depreciated by 0.72 percent or N90 billion from N12.531 trillion recorded in the previous week to close at N12.441 trillion last week.

Activity level was low as 926.418 million shares worth N9.768 billion were exchanged in 20,910 transactions by investors during the week. This was below the 1.662 billion shares valued at N18.205 billion traded in 28,791 deals in the previous week.

In terms of volume traded, the financial services industry led with 676.072 million shares valued at N5.053 billion exchanged in 10,753 transanctions and contributed 72.98 percent and 51.73 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.

The conglomerates’ industry came second with 71.117 million shares worth N399.502 million in 445 deals while the consumer goods industry came third with a turnover of 48.835 million shares valued ay N1.569 billion and traded in 3,497 transactions.

FBN Holdings Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank and Zenith Bank Plc were the most traded equities last week as the three accounted for 335.075 million shares worth N4.061 billion in 4,885 deals and contributing 36.17 percent and 41.58 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.

The year-to-date return moderated to -11.07 percent last week. However, the bourse has expanded by 12.07 percent this quarter.

A recent report has shown that local investors are taking advantage of stocks with good fundamentals but undervalued due to the negative impact of the global pandemic on the exchange.

Still, investors remain wary of the economic uncertainty surrounding the recent devaluation, falling revenue generation amid low oil prices, rising inflation rate and high unemployment rate predicted to surge even more.