Emmanuel OchayiThe equity market experienced a bearish trading session on Monday, with investors losing N154 billion due to a decline in 19 stocks, including Dangote Sugar, Secure Electronic Technology, and CAP.
Despite more advancing stocks (25) than declining ones, the market sentiment remained bearish, with sectoral performance showing losses across various indices, including banking, insurance, and consumer goods. However, the oil and gas and industrial goods indices remained relatively stable.
According to analysts at United Capital, the impact of high yields in the fixed-income segment of the economy will continue to drive sell-offs in the equity market as investors switch to less risky assets. However, they expect bargain-hunting activities across dividend-paying stocks in anticipation of corporate qualification and payment dates.
“We expect the bearish sentiments amongst investors to persist in the local equities market given the recent developments in the fixed-income market. The impact of the high yields in the fixed-income market will continue to drive sell-offs as investors switch their asset classes to less risky assets. However, we expect pockets of bargain-hunting activities across dividend-paying stocks, in anticipation of the corporates’ qualification and payment dates,” United Capital said in its update on Monday.
Despite the downturn, trading activity increased, indicating positive market movement. Total deals, volume, and value increased by 32.39%, 4.59%, and 1.20%, respectively. The shares of United Bank for Africa emerged as the most traded security in terms of volume and value, with 34.56 million units exchanged, valued at N799.45 million in 646 deals.
