Last week, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) closed on a negative note when bearish momentum pulled the market downward, reducing investor wealth by N832 billion.
The fall reflected a cautious approach to equities and a lack of investor appetite in the face of ongoing economic difficulties.
At 138,980.01 points against 140,295.49 points the previous week, the AllShare Index fell 0.94 percent. Market capitalization fell from N88.77 trillion to N87.94 trillion, thereby dragging year-to-date returns down to 35.03 percent.
Market participation reduced as the number of finished trades fell 17.43 percent to 117,791 and overall traded volume dropped 2.66 percent to 3.11 billion units. Turnover rose 5.53 percent to N90.2 billion, notwithstanding this slowdown, implying a move toward highervalue equities.
The News Chronicle observed that the increasing worry about inflation, currency pressures, and policy uncertainty causes investors to remain wary. Many traders take a cautious posture while waiting for clarity in the wider economic scene because these issues still weigh strongly on feeling.
At 0.30x, market breadth was highly poor; just 19 winners contrasted 63 losers. Following a 2.08 percent drop, the industrial goods index led sectoral declines, then banking at 1.52 percent and consumer goods at 1.18 per Insurance at 0.36 percent, oil and gas at 0.77 percent, and cent at 0. With a modest 0.04 percent increase, the commodities index was the only victor.
Among individual stocks, NSLTECH gained 12.9 per cent, Cornerstone Insurance rose 12.4 per cent, while Sovereign Trust Insurance increased 14.2 per cent; NCR and TEN percent forward for SCOA. DAAR Communications dropped 21.1 per cent, UPDC lost 13.8 per cent, AIICO Insurance decreased 13.6 per cent, and Champion Breweries and PZ Cussons both lost 13.3 per cent, however.
Looking ahead, analysts at Cowry Asset Management and Cordros Capital forecast that market mood will probably stay muted in the near future, with bargain hunting providing only temporary relief. Staying selective and concentrating on fundamentally sound companies that can resist volatility, they counsel investors as economic headwinds persist.
