The local equities market closed up for the fifth consecutive week, as the NSEASI inched up by 0.09% WoW to close at 25,221.87pts. Thus, moderating the YtD return -6.04%. LASACO recorded a 26.92% appreciation in share price to top the gainers’ chart, while ROYALEX shed 16.13% of its share price to lead the losers’. Last week’s market performance was largely driven by gains across counters in the consumer goods, insurance and banking space.
The macroeconomic environment remains largely weak, evinced by the newly released Q2:2020 GDP which shows a contraction in output growth by 6.10%. This coupled with the continued rise in headline inflation to 12.82% YoY in July, does not inspire positive investor sentiment. While we expect the continued hunt for dividend paying stocks to drive some activities in the market, the possibility of profit taking following a five-week gaining streak is expected to negatively impact market performance this week. Ultimately, we expect a reversal in the market performance, as we expect the NSEASI to shed this week.
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