By Peter Egwuatu
The Nigerian stock market rebounded last week, as investors’ portfolio value increased by over N986 billion in the five trading days.
A major performance indicator, Nigerian Exchange Limited, NGX All Share Index, ASI closed higher, Week on Week, WoW, in four of the five trading sessions, thereby ending a four-week losing streak.
The renewed positive sentiment saw investors taking positions in stocks offering attractive entry points. Consequently, the benchmark index
, ASI advanced by 1.2% WoW to 140,545.69 points, driven by gains in WAPCO, which went up by 13.3%, Zenith Bank 4.8% , UBA 4.2% and Dangote Sugar 9.1%.
Another performance indicator, market capitalisation, which measures total value of investment owned by investors in the NGX increased to N88.922 trillion from N87.936 trillion the previous week.
Consequently, the Month-to-Date, MtD and Year-to-Date returns improved to 0.3% and 36.7%, respectively.
On trading activities, both volume and value declined by 37.7% WoW and 39.5% WoW, respectively.
Sectoral performance was broadly positive, with gains recorded across sectors.
Oil & Gas Index up by 2.4%, Insurance Index 2.4%, Banking Index1.7%, Industrial Goods Index 1.1% and Consumer Goods Index1.0%.
Reacting to market performance, analysts at Cordros Capital said: This week, investor sentiment is expected to remain cautious, with portfolio flows skewed toward fundamentally justified stocks offering compelling entry opportunities.
Market focus will also shift to the August inflation print, where evidence of sustained disinflation could reinforce expectations of a potential Monetary Policy Committee MPC rate cut later this month”.
In its comment, analysts at InvestData Consulting Limited stated: “Looking ahead, market performance is expected to remain mixed in the coming week as investors continue to rebalance their portfolios ahead of the release of more third-quarter earnings reports. Bargain hunters are likely to take advantage of price pullbacks in fundamentally sound stocks, even as profit-taking persists in a few large-cap counters.
The direction of the market will depend largely on the strength of incoming earnings results, macroeconomic developments, and the movement in crude oil prices, which continue to shape investor sentiment”.
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