Nigeria’s equities market decreased further by 0.33percent on Monday April 4, as penny stocks helped strengthen the market’s journey into the negative territory after the previous trading day’s dip. The record dip by N84billion on Monday pushed market’s positive return year-to-date (YtD) to new low of 9.30percent.
Penny stock like Regency Alliance Plc led the losers’ league after its shares price decreased from 31kobo to 28kobo, losing 3kobo or 9.68percent. It was followed by Japaul Gold which decreased from 34kobo to 31kobo, after shedding 3kobo or 8.82percent.
Also Coronation Insurance dipped from 44kobo to 41kobo, losing 3kobo or 6.82percent. Linkage Assurance was also down from 50 to 47kobo, shedding 3kobo or 6percent, while Jaiz Bank was down from 70kobo to 66kobo, down by 4kobo or 5.71percent.
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“Looking forward, we expect the equities market to remain relatively lull as investors continue to take profits off the table especially in the absence of any expected positive trigger. However, we note that the market is approaching oversold territory which could spark some short-term bargain hunting. We retain a preference for investors to continue to seek selling opportunities to reduce exposure to the domestic equities market,” according to analysts Lagos-based United Capital Plc.
The equities market capitalisation which opened this week at N25.253trillion decreased to N25.169trillion. The equities market’s benchmark performance indicator – Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) –All Share Index (ASI) also decreased from 46,842.86 points as at Friday April 1 to 46,687.85 points. In 5,168 deals, investors exchanged 219,495,846 units valued at N1.930billion. Transcorp, Fidelity Bank, UBA, Zenith Bank and Access Holdings were most traded stocks on the Bourse.
“We expect the general market mood which has been broadly bearish for three consecutive weeks to continue this week as we do not anticipate significant positive triggers that will change market direction,” said Meristem research analysts.
They noted the potential drag on the market from dividend mark down on tickers like MTNN, Lafarge and Custodian this week would further drive down the All-Share Index. “However, we do not rule out the potential for bargain hunting on some tickers that have declined significantly in previous weeks. Hence, we expect the market to close negative this week,” the analysts added.
