Nigerian Equities Market Ended First Week Of 2021 Negatively

Local equities market closed on a negative note last week following loss in bellwether stocks. The market opened the week with a significantly bullish momentum as gains were recorded in the first 4 trading days of the week.

Brandnewsday understands, however, bearish sentiment in industrial stocks particularly DANGCEM dragged market performance to the red region on Friday. Consequently, The All Share Index (ASI) declined by 37bps WoW to settle at 40,120.22 with market capitalization shedding N78.69bn to settle at N20.98tn.

Market breadth, a measure of Investors’ sentiment declined from 1.00x to 7.14x as 50 stocks advanced while 21 stocks declined last week. JAPAULGOLD(+56.75%), BOCGAS(+32.18%) and NEM(+28.49%) were the top market gainers while DEPCAP(-12.00%) ROYALEX(-11.54%) and DANGEM(-8.13%) top the losers’ chart.

Market activity level was mixed as the volume of transaction advanced by 87.71% while value went down by 23.48%. Trading in Champion Breweries Plc, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc and Access Bank Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 2.144 billion shares worth N6.002 billion in 1,971 deals, contributing 63.18% and 30.21% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Nigerian Equities Market: Outlook for the week

We expect to see some mixed activity this week as some investors hunt for bargains and others take profits with the sustained low fixed income yield influencing decision.

FIXED INCOME MARKET

The Bond market started the week on a relatively quiet note. Mixed sentiments were witnessed across the different maturities albeit with profit-taking activity, particularly on the long tenor maturity as investor sentiment remained weak throughout the week.

The Treasury Bills market started the week on a relatively quiet note with minimal activity witnessed across the board due to the unattractive NTB yields. Hence, activity in the space maintained its relatively weak trend for the rest of the week on the back of the limited market supply.

Notably, the yield on the 364 days maturities compressed to 0.68% while that of 182 days advanced to 0.50%

Outlook for the week

We expect a similar trend in the Bond market next week albeit with cherry-picking.

GLOBAL MARKET

The US S&P 500 and Dow Jones indices both advanced by 1.61% and 1.83% despite the political unrest witnessed during the week. . Other global stocks also closed positive following renewed prospects on global energy demand. Shares in Europe shrugged off the imposition of stricter lockdowns and rose on hopes that coronavirus vaccines and a potentially massive U.S. stimulus package would spur an economic recovery. Notably, German DAX, UK FTSE and French CAC advanced by 2.41%, 6.39% and 2.80%.