By Chinwendu Obienyi
Bullish sentiments remained a dominant status at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) as investors staked N15.34 billion in 711.68 million shares in five trading sessions.
Specifically, the market’s All Share Index (ASI) advanced by 6.88 per cent week-on-week (w/w) to close at 47,554.34 points on gains recorded in Airtel Africa, BUA Foods, BUA Cement, Dangote Cement, MTNN and Nigerian Breweries.
Consequently, the Month-to-Date (MTD) and Year-to-Date (YTD) returns advanced to +8.5 per cent and +11.3 per cent respectively. This was even as market capitalisation closed the week at N25.902 trillion from an opening value of N24.234 trillion. This, investors gained N1.67 trillion in one week.
Sectoral performance was largely bullish following gains in the Industrial Goods (+9.4 per cent), Insurance (+5.1 per cent), Banking (+3.1 per cent), and Consumer Goods (+0.1 per cent) indices. On the flip side, the Oil and Gas (-1.3 per cent) index was the sole loser of the week.
A total turnover of 711.618 million shares worth N15.338 billion in 16,662 deals was traded in contrast to a total of 694.376 million shares valued at N8.667 billion that exchanged hands in the previous trading week in 15,418 deals.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 461.230 million shares valued at N3.697 billion traded in 7,653 deals; thus contributing 64.81 per cent and 24.10 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Conglomerates industry followed with 99.881 million shares worth N139.213 million in 582 deals while the ICT Industry recorded a turnover of 37.953 million shares worth N7.577 billion in 1,050 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Transnational Corporation Plc, AIICO Insurance Plc and Zenith Bank Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 194.600 million shares worth N1.191 billion in 1,974 deals, contributing 27.35 per cent and 7.76 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Commenting on the weekly performance of the market, market operators said the bears are likely to book profit across most counters.
“In the week ahead, we do not think the bulls will repeat the flawless victory that ensued this week as the bears are likely to book profit across most counters. Consequently, we see more of a “choppy theme” even as institutional investors continue to search for clues on the direction of yields in the FI market.
However, we advise investors to take positions in only fundamentally justified stocks as the weak macro environment remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings”, Cordros Research said.