Equity dealers have said that the mixed performance recorded in the stock market last week will persist even as investors gained N135 billion amidst profit taking in some highly capitalised stocks.
Despite the profit taking in some blue chips that saw the local bourse dip in two of the trading days last week, the market still closed positive, aligning the development in other global markets.
Key global markets across US, Europe and Asia had also seen some levels of appreciation within the week.
In US (DJIA: +0.2%; S&P: +0.8%) closed in the green. European (STOXX Europe: -0.4%; FTSE 100: +1.9%) shares were mixed as optimism around the news of the UK’s approval of a coronavirus vaccine was partly offset by some profit-taking after the impressive November gains. Asian (Nikkei 225: +0.4%; SSE: +1.1%) shares closed higher on optimism over the vaccines.
Analysts had posited that price corrections or pull back would be witnessed in the market in the near future to strengthen the recovery process seen so far.
Meanwhile, Financial Vanguard’s analysis of the week’s trading show that the market rose by 0.72 percent buoyed by 19.6 percent gains in Airtel Africa Plc, which offset the decline in Dangote Cement Plc (-2.9%), Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (-5.0%), Nigerian Breweries Plc (-7.1%), BUA Cement Plc (-1.8%) and Zenith Bank Plc (-2.1%).
The gains in Airtel Africa resulted in rise in the All Share Index (ASI) to 35,137.99 points, a 0.72 percent increase from 34,885.51 points in the previous week.
In the same vein, the market capitalisation advanced by 0.75 percent to N18.365 trillion.
Further analysis showed that performance across sectors were mixed, with the oil and gas and the insurance sectors advancing by 1.7 percent and 1.6 percent respectively, while the banking, consumer goods, and industrial goods sectors closed lower at 3.1 percent, 2.8 percent and 2.2 percent respectively. Activity levels, however, softened as volume and value traded declined by 7.8 percent and 1.4 percent week-on-week (w/w) to 292.861 million units and N4.285 billion respectively.