By Chinwendu Obienyi
Bullish sentiments at the weekend propelled Nigeria’s stock market to its first strong trading week of 2022 as total turnover hit 2.027 billion shares worth N59.014 billion in 15,750 deals traded by investors.
This was even as market capitalisation of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) surged by N1.33 trillion with the All Share Index (ASI) rising 2.7 per cent week-on-week (w/w).
The Nigerian bourse had ended the last trading week of 2021 on a bullish note as the ASI edged up by 1.1 per cent to close at 42,716.44 points while market capitalisation rose by N1.2 trillion to 22,296 trillion from 21.056 trillion achieved as at December 31, 2020.
Speaking ahead of the trading week, analysts had said they expected the bullish rush to retain dominance as buying activities due to positioning for 2021 full year dividends will likely suppress selling activities.
However, the benchmark index recorded gains in all trading sessions this week, rising by 2.7 per cent w/w to close at 43,854.42 points.
Daily Sun investigations revealed that foreign investors’ demand for Airtel Africa (+10 per cent), and bargain hunting in BUAFOODS (+9.9 per cent), WAPCO (+7.7 per cent), and FBN Holdings (+4.0 per cent) stocks spurred the weekly gain.
The NGX market capitalisation had a significant boost, gaining about N1.33 trillion w/w due to the listing of BUAFOODS’ 18 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N40 per share on the main board of the exchange.
Performances across the sectors were mixed, as the Oil and Gas (+2.7 per cent), Banking (+0.8 per cent), and Industrial Goods (+0.3 per cent) indices closed positive while the Insurance (-0.9 per cent), and Consumer Goods (-0.9 per cent) declined.
Meanwhile, a total turnover of 2.027 billion shares worth N59.014 billion in 15,750 deals was traded by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 995.361 million shares valued at N13.209 billion that exchanged hands in the previous week in 10,264 deals.
The Consumer Goods Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.255 billion shares valued at N 51.973 billion traded in 2,581deals; thus contributing 61.90 and 88.07 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Financial Services Industry followed with 537.959 million shares worth N 4.627 billion in 8,015 deals while the ICT Industry recorded a turnover of 76.906 million shares worth N704.346 million in 933 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely BUA Foods Plc, Wema Bank Plc, and Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 1.349 billion shares worth N51.253 billion in 1,120 deals, contributing 67 and 86.85 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Forty (40) equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than Thirty-seven (37) equities in the previous week. Thirty-one (31) equities depreciated in price, higher than Twenty-one (21) equities in the previous week, while Eighty-four (84) equities remained unchanged compared to ninety-nine (99) equities recorded in the previous week.
Commenting on the performance of the market, analysts at Afrinvest, in an emailed note to Daily Sun, said, “We expect the positive performance to be sustained as more investors take position ahead of the dividend season as trading resumes this week”
For their part, Cordros capital, said, “In the near term, we believe positioning for 2021 full year dividends will continue to support buying activities in the market even as institutional investors continue to search for clues on the direction of yields in the fixed income 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”.