By Bamidele Famoofo
WorldStage– The Nigerian equities market is expected to remain cautiously positive this week, with performance likely driven by stock-specific factors rather than broad market momentum.
Weak market breadth and subdued trading activity suggest continued fragile sentiment, while elevated fixed-income yields may sustain occasional portfolio shifts away from equities.
Nonetheless, selective opportunities may emerge in fundamentally strong counters, particularly in the banking and insurance sectors, as investors remain focused on earnings resilience and dividend prospects.
The Nigerian equities market ended last week on a mildly positive note, supported by selective bargain hunting across key counters. The benchmark NGX All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 0.27 percent week-on-week to close at 250,385.47 points, while market capitalisation increased by approximately ₦432 billion to ₦160.51 trillion.
Consequently, the year-to-date return strengthened further to 60.90 percent, reflecting sustained, albeit cautious, investor confidence in the domestic equities space.
However, market breadth remained weak, closing negative at 0.96x, with 43 gainers against 45 decliners. This indicates a largely selective and stock-specific trading pattern, as gains were concentrated in a limited number of counters despite the overall index uptick.
Trading activity was subdued over the review period, as key market indicators recorded notable declines. The number of deals, trading volume, and transaction value fell by 27.91 percent, 38.07 percent, and 31.01 percent week-on-week, respectively. In total, investors exchanged 2.40 billion shares worth ₦160.51 billion across 241,726 deals, underscoring relatively weak participation and cautious positioning by market players.
Sectoral performance closed broadly mixed as investor sentiment remained selective across major counters. The Insurance, Oil & Gas, and Commodity indices recorded gains of supported by renewed buying interest in select energy and commodity-linked stocks.
On the flip side, the Banking, Consumer Goods, and Industrial Goods indices declined amid sustained profit-taking activities and weak momentum in key bellwether stocks.
The Banking sector emerged as the worst-performing segment, declining by 2.43 percent W-o-W following heavy selloffs in Fidelity Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, and Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc. Similarly, the Consumer Goods index weakened by 2.04 percent as investors booked profits in Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Unilever Nigeria Plc, and Champion Breweries Plc.
The Insurance sector also came under pressure, falling by 1.77 percent due to weakened investor appetite for Regency Alliance Insurance Plc, AIICO Insurance Plc, and Guinea Insurance Plc. Meanwhile, the Industrial Goods sector edged lower by 0.05 percent following mild profit-taking in Chemical and Allied Products Plc, Premier Paints Plc, and Cutix Plc. Conversely, the Oil & Gas sector posted a modest gain of 0.07 percent, buoyed by renewed investor confidence in Aradel Holdings Plc and Eterna Plc.
On the gainers’ chart, INTENEGINS topped the list with a 20.5 percent gain, followed by SOVRENINS (+13.6%), ALEX (+10.0%), AUSTINLAZ (+10.0%), and AIRTELAFRI (+10.0%), driven largely by strong buy-side interest and positive sentiment in selected mid- and large-cap stocks.
On the losers’ chart, TIP (-25.8%) led declines, followed by ZICHIS (-14.3%), ABBEYBDS (-12.1%), DANGSUGAR (-11.0%), and FTNCOCOA (-10.1%), reflecting profit-taking activities and sustained sell pressures across select counters.
