IN the month of August, equities trading at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) decreased by 0.80 percent while investors lost about N33 billion as sessions of profit taking on the Lagos Bourse outweighed that of bargains.

The market’s record negative in the review month was driven by investors who sold mostly industrial stocks despite increased bargain oil & gas, insurance, consumer goods and banking stocks.

The decline recorded in the month of August however came with positive sentiments as analyst believed there are indications of recovery in the local stock market.

Analyst at Cowrywise expected that the prevailing market sentiment would continue to dominate the local bourse, with position-taking and portfolio reshuffling likely to intensify ahead of the September trading month.

“From a technical perspective, the NGX is showing signs of recovery, as indicated by the candlestick formations and momentum indicators, with equity investors poised to capitalise on pullbacks to acquire value stocks. Nevertheless, we continue to advise investors to focus on fundamentally sound stocks,” the analyst said in the weekly report.

In the review month, NGX Oil & Gas Index led the performance of sectors having appreciated by 22.45 percent, NGX Insurance followed with 11.67 percent appreciation, while NGX Banking Index rose by 6.52 percent in August, followed by NGX Consumer Goods Index with 4.88 percent appreciated. Meanwhile, NGX Industrial Index declined by 13.08 percent.

The market’s positive return as at August 30 stood at 29.16 percent.

In the week which ushered in the month end, the market recorded its first positive close in a three-week period closing in green with 0.63 percent increase in value.

The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation dropped from review month’s open of 97,774.22 points and N55.513 trillion respectively to 96,579.54 points and N55.477 trillion.

Toward the end of August, stock investors raised bet in the market in show of optimism after Nigeria’s positive second quarter (Q2) GDP report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The Q2’24 GDP report indicated that the Nigerian economy expanded by 3.19 percent year-on-year (YoY) as against 2.51 percent it was in Q2’23 and 2.98 percent recorded in Q1’24.

As September trading session berths soon, analysts see Nigeria’s economic landscape presenting a mix of challenges and strategic opportunities that demand careful navigation.

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