Market captialisation bows to profit-taking by N583bn

The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last week bowed to profit taking losing N583 billion with loses by some blue chips.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the market capitalisation which opened at N11.691 trillion lost N583 billion or 4.99 per cent depreciated by 4.99 per cent to close N11.108 trillion.

Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Weekly Review Chart One

The All-Share Index dipped by 1688.42 points or 4.99 per cent to close at 32,122.14 against 33,810.56 achieved in the corresponding week.

Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Weekly Review Chart Two

NAN reports that 23 equities appreciated in price during the week under review lower than 38 equities in the previous week, while 52 equities depreciated in price, higher than 42 equities posted in the comparative period.

On the other hand, Transcorp recorded the highest loss for the week in percentage terms, shedding 23.12 or 43k to close at N1.43 per share.

Jaiz Bank trailed with a loss of 17.98 per cent or 16k to close at 73k, while  Fidson Healthcare shed 16.67 per cent or 55k to close at N2.75 per share.

On the other hand, Neimeth International Pharmaceutical led the gainers’ table in percentage terms, gaining 44.12 per cent or 30k to close at 95k per share.

Ashaka Cement followed with a gain of 21.39   per cent or N3.01 to close at N17.08 and Livestock Feeds gained 20.88 per cent or 19k to close at N1.10 per share.

Mr Sewa Wusu, Head of Research, SCM Capital Ltd., in an interview with NAN attributed the development to profit taking caused by sustained rally witnessed by the market over the last couple of weeks.

Wusu said that the momentum oscillators indicated that the market was in the overbought region, an indication that profit taking sentiments would prevail and that was exactly what happened last week.

“We had anticipated it. However, the market outlook still looks promising in terms of attraction valuations across some counters.

“The only drag that may likely slow down the market mood is the outlook on oil prices at the international markets.

“Otherwise, we may still continue to witness some uptick. Investors as a result may likely exhibit some caution going forward,’’ Wusu said.

Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd., said that the economic fundamentals and factors that brought the market to positive level were still intact except for the unstable price of oil.

Omordion stated that the current pullback was as result of profit taking that coincided with the mixed reaction to the standalone status of Nigeria in the frontier markets index of emerging markets index of Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI).

He said that Argentina and Nigeria were in the standalone category, noting that some investors reacted negatively to the development.

“Nigeria’s readmission into the index was postponed to November to see if the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will sustain its import and export window of the exchange market.

“Before now MSCI has assigned more weight to Nigeria stocks in the index which is good,’’ Omordion said.

NAN reports that a turnover of 2.31 billion shares worth N24.58 billion were exchanged by investors in 27,836 deals last week against 2.74 billion shares valued at N32.04 billion transacted in 32,217 deals in the preceding week.

The Financial Services Industry led the week’s activity chart with 1.78 billion shares worth N15.87 billion traded in 15,948 deals.

The sector contributed 77.17 per cent and 64.55 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The Conglomerates sector followed with a turnover of 239.23 million shares valued N571.91 million in 1,251 deals.

The third place was occupied by Consumer Goods Industry with a turnover of 85.66 million shares worth N4.52 billion traded in 3,673 deals.