The Nigerian equities market closed the week on a bearish note, as renewed sell-offs across selected stocks weighed on overall market performance.
The benchmark NGX All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 0.97 per cent week-on-week (WoW) to close at 248,363.55 points, while market capitalisation shed N1.58 trillion to close the week at N161.26 trillion. Consequently, the market’s year-to-date (YTD) return moderated to 59.60 per cent.
The negative weekly performance was driven by losses in Aradel Holdings, Nestle Nigeria, Fidelity Bank, First Holdco and Access Holdings.
Market sentiment remained weak, as market breadth closed negative with 54 decliners against 23 advancers. Tripple Gee & Company followed with a gain of 32.62 per cent to close at N3.09, while Guinea Insurance went up by 29.17 per cent to close to 93 kobo, per share.
On the other side, Critical Minerals Financing Corp (CMFC) led the decliners table by 20.27 per cent to close at N3.58, per share. ABC Transport followed with a loss of 18.24 per cent to close at N6.05, while Japaul Gold & Ventures declined by 11.11 per cent to close at N2.56, per share.
Overall, a total turnover of 2.715 billion shares worth N158.280 billion in 209,986 deals was traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 3.166 billion shares valued at N155.023 billion that exchanged hands last week in 206,662 deals.
Analysts attributed the decline to sell-offs in fundamentally strong counters following recent price appreciation, while expectations of third-quarter earnings are anticipated to influence market direction in the coming weeks.
On market outlook, Cordros Securities Limited said, “we expect buying interest to recover modestly in the near term, driven by bargain hunting following the week’s bearish performance. At the same time, the anticipation of Q3 earnings releases is likely to support selective interest in counters with positive earnings prospects.”