Bears Stunt Stock Market

THE month of April witnessed the firm grip of the stock market by the bears. Though the bulls made spirited effort to come up the stage, their victory was transient, as the bears sooner upturned them and regained supremacy.

In the first week of the month, which ended Friday, April 8, the bears floored the bulls. This impacted negatively on the All-Share Index, making it to dip by 18.66 points or 0.07 per cent to close at 24,733.38. The market capitalisation decreased to N7.9 trillion, while the NSE-30 bowed by 0.06 points or 0.004 per cent to close at 1,068.82.

In the second week, which ended on Friday, April 15, the bulls upturned the bears and raised the All-Share Index by 303.37 points or 1.22 per cent to close on Friday at 25,036.75.  The market capitalisation sprang up to N7.99 trillion. The NSE-30 appreciated by 29.53 points or 2.75 per cent to close at 1,098.35.

Three of the four sectorial indices appreciated, too, with the food/beverage gaining 9.25 points or 1.15 per cent to close at 818.36; banking appreciated by 9.65 points or 2.50 per cent to close at 396.09; oil/gas appreciated by 1.91 points or 0.56 per cent to close at 343.49 and insurance went up by 1.58 points or 0.92 per cent to close at 167.88.

But in the third week, which ended on Friday, April 21, the bears gathered momentum and chased out the bulls, forcing down the All-Share Index by 16.67 points or 0.05 per cent to close at 25,020.08. The market capitalisation decreased to N7.994 trillion. However, bulls refused to let go the NSE-30, forcing it to gain 1.96 points or 0.18 per cent to close at 1,100.31.

Last week, which marked the end of the period for this report, the bears still held down the bulls, thus ending the month on a negative note with the All-Share Index decreasing to 25,041.6 from its Wednesday, April 27, position of 25,240.8. Market capitalisation in the same period went down from N8.06 trillion to N8 trillion on Friday, April 29.

In the first week, the Conglomerates subsector was the most active measured by turnover volume. It recorded 2,564.5 million shares worth N4.1 billion, exchanged by investors in 1,200 deals. Volume in the Conglomerates subsector was driven by activity in the shares of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp) and PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc. Trading in the shares of the two firms accounted for 2,559.58 million shares, or 99.8 per cent of the above figure. That of Transcorp alone accounted for 65.29 per cent.

The Banking subsector, boosted by activity in the shares of Diamond Bank and UBA, followed on the week’s activity chart with a subsector turnover of 994.67 million shares valued at N7.75 billion in 17,080 deals in that week.

In the second week, the Conglomerates subsector was also the most active, recording 1,340.03 million shares worth N2.81 billion exchanged by investors in 1,162 deals. The volume was driven by activity in the shares of Transcorp and Unilever. Trading in these companies’ shares accounted for 1,334.82 million shares or 99.61 per cent withTranscorp alone going up by 98.65 per cent.

However, in the third week, which saw the market opening for only four days, as Friday, April 22, was declared a public holiday to commemorate Good Friday celebration; the Banking subsector emerged as the most active with 961.27 million shares worth N8.99 billion exchanged by investors in 12,581 deals. This was due to trading on the shares of First Bank, UBA, Zenith and Access Bank, which accounted for 587.28 million shares or 61.09 per cent of the volume traded.

The Conglomerates subsector, boosted by activity in the shares of Transcorp, maintained second position in the Exchange’s activity chart with a turnover of 785.02 million shares valued at N1.36 billion. Of this, trading on Transcorp’s shares accounted for 99.38 per cent.

Source : Guardian