Sep 11 (Lagos) - The All Share Index recorded a mixed trading session in the week, with significant selloffs at the beginning of the week, and bargain hunting activities in the last two sessions due to dividend qualification.
Analysts at Vetiva Securities Ltd in Victoria Island expect the performance of the market in the next few sessions to be largely dependent on events around indicators such as; global Crude oil price movements, news around the second wave of the Corona Virus pandemic as well as liquidity in the FX market.
Gains in
WAPCO (+492bps),
STANBIC (+390bps) and
ZENITHBANK (+147bps) amongst others sustained bullish performance, as the ASI ended the last trading session of the week up by 28bps to close at 25,591.95 points.
Activity levels however closed at opposite directions, with total volume traded declining by 9.21%, in contrast to total value traded which advanced by 38.38% (thanks to trades in AIRTELAFRI,
NESTLE and
ZENITHBANK which contributed about 48.00% of total value traded).
Despite the recoveries witnessed in the last two trading sessions of the week, the domestic bourse could not close at the positive territory, ending the week down marginally by 0.05% while the YTD performance settled at -4.66%. Likewise, trading sessions in the week were controlled by the bears as all sectors closed in the red (led by the Banking sector which slipped 2.69% WoW), except for the Industrial sector which advanced by 0.35% WoW.
Still recovering from the sell pressure witnessed at the beginning of the week, the Banking sector closed as the best performing sector for the day, rising 76bps due to capital appreciation in
STANBIC (+390bps),
UBN (+204bps),
ZENITHBANK (+147bps),
ETI (+120bps),
GUARANTY (+101bps) and
FBNH (+100bps).
ARDOVA emerged as the worst performing stock for the day, ending the week down by 992bps to close at N 11.35. The counter was negatively patronized in today's session, with most of the 864k units traded going at lower prices. Following today's decline, its YTD performance worsened to -36.94%.
Analysts at Easykobo agree mostly with the above outlook but would like to note that if crude oil prices were to dip further we will expect that to start reflecting in all stock index. Also Naira has started weakening again at the parallel market and CBN is seriously holding on to their USD. Security issues are getting more and more diabolical in the country with attacks reported in Abuja now where 20 people were kidnapped from a suberbian estate. These are some things that will stop investors from coming in and remain fearful.
reporting for easykobo.com on Friday, Sep 11 2020 from Lagos, Nigeria