Last week, the domestic equity market maintained its bearish tilt as investors continued to take profit from the bourse in light of weaker sentiments and absence of risk-on triggers. Interestingly, large-cap stocks saw decent sell pressures as BUAFOODS (-3.1% w/w), NESTLE (-2.8%) and MTNN (-0.5%) recorded declines. As a result, the benchmark NGX-All Share Index (NGX-ASI) lost 67bps w/w to print at 46,964.2 points. In addition, YTD return moderated further to settle at 9.9%, with market capitalization printing at N25.3tn. The activity level in the local bourse reflected the overall bearish performance of the local bourse as average volume and average value traded fell 52.0% and 19.6% w /w to print at 235.3mn units and N3.3bn respectively. Also, investor sentiment as measured by market breadth remained weak at 0.5x as 24 stocks appreciated while 44 equities fell.
On a sectoral level, w/w performance mirrored the bearish outing of the broad market as all the sectors we cover closed in the red, albeit with two closing with marginal losses. Leading the laggards, the Banking sector lost 2.9% w/w with dividend mark down activities and sell pressures in ACCESS (-4.3% w/w), ETI (-4.6% w/w) and UBA (-0.8% w/w) weighing on the sector. The Insurance sector (-2.6% w/w) and Consumer goods sector (-1.1% w/w) trailed owing to significant sell pressure in MANSARD (-6.5% w/w), NESTLE (-2.8% w/w), FLOURMIL (-3.1% w/w), INTBREW (-2.9% w/w). Meanwhile, the Industrial goods sector and Oil & Gas sector both lost a marginal 2bps w/w.
This week, we expect to see continued profit-taking on positions that have appreciated while investors reduce market exposure as dividend season gradually draws to a close. We retain a preference for investors to continue to seek selling opportunities to reduce exposure to the domestic equities market.
