Stories by Chinenye Anuforo
The equity market retreated from a 6-day losing streak at the end of trading session yesterday as the Exchange All Share Index (NSE ASI) recovered 0.18 percent to close at 26,221.75 points, while market capitalisation grew by N16.5 billion to close at N9.026 trillion.
The day’s performance was linked to the 3.08 percent growth of the banking index which recorded the highest appreciation amongst other sector indices, following gains in Guaranty, Zenith, Access, UBA, Diamond, Sterling, Union and FBN holdings.
The NSE 30 and Main-board Indices also appreciated by 0.28 percent and 0.55 percent respectively while the Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas Indices slumped 0.47 and 3.71 percent each.
Investors’ appetite showed improvement but remained weak as market breadth closed with 15 gainers paired against 19 losers.
Air Service Plc led the gainers chart with a 4.69 percent growth to close at N2.90 per share, Guaranty Trust Bank followed with a gain of 4.65 percent to close at N21.61 per share, Vitafoam Plc trailed with a 4.60 percent growth to close at N2.50 per share and Fidson Health Care Plc improved by 4.17 percent to close at N1.25 per share. Zenith Bank emerged the top fifth gainer, adding 3.45 percent to close at N14.70 per share.
On the flip side, Cadbury Plc topped the losers’ chart by 9.65 percent, to close at N11.70 per share. Forte Oil Nigeria Plc shed 8.50 percent to close at N104.05 per share, while Total Nigeria Plc dropped 8.19 percent to close at N290 per share.
Nigerian Aviation Handling Company of Nigeria Plc declined by 4.94 percent to close at N2.31 per share while Caverton Plc closed at N1.05 per share following a decline of 4.55 percent Market performance as measured by the total volume traded, declined by 5 percent to 137.6 million units valued at N990.9 million exchanged in 3,283 deals as against 146.1 million units valued at N1.04 billion transacted in 3,039 deals on Wednesday.
Sterling Bank Plc emerged as the most traded stock for the day with 27.7 million shares valued at N22.1 million. Chams Plc, followed with 25.1 million shares worth N12.6 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank Plc traded 16.9 million shares valued at N366.7 million.
Access Bank Plc with the trade of 11.3 million shares worth N60.2 million bagged the fourth position on the activity chart, while Zenith Bank Plc came fifth having sold 9.7 million shares valued N144.8 million.
Trading in ETF hits N4.24bn in five years
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has said that it recorded about N4.34 billion on Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) at September 2016 rising from N287.5 million in 2011 when it was introduced.
Speaking at the annual ETFs workshop in Lagos, Chief Executive Officer, the NSE Mr. Oscar Onyema said, “In the NSE, ETFs were introduced in December 2011 with cross listing of Newgold ETF with Assets Under Management (AUM) of N287.5 million to provide investors’ with new opportunities to diversify their portfolios and access the market. As at today, we’ve recorded about 1,900 per cent growth in our ETF market with total AUM of about N4.24 billion as at September 2016 on eight ETFs currently listed and traded on the Exchange.”
The ETFs available for trading on Nigerian bourse includes; Newgold ETF, Vetiva Griffin 30 ETF, StanbicIBTC ETF 30, Lotus Halal Equity ETF, Vetiva Sector Series ETFs- Banking, Consumer Goods and Industrial, and Vetiva S&P Nigerian Sovereign Bond ETF.
He explained that the existence of ETFs Nigeria is beneficial to retail and institutional investors, as they offer a direct and inexpensive way to attain diversified exposure to an index, commodity, sector, or region. Aside diversification and tradability, ETFs also offer additional benefits of low expense ratio as compared to mutual funds, increased liquidity and can be used to execute different investment strategies.
The CEO said experts have predicted the continued growth of the ETF industry estimating that global AUM will reach at least US$7 trillion by 2021.
According to Onyema, Global ETF Assets Under Management (AUM) have grown from US$1.4 trillion in December 2010 to about $3 trillion as at April, 2016 representing over 102 per cent cumulative growth over the last five years.
Investors now have the ability to quantify and evaluate the trade-offs in our markets, and are able to select the instrument that allows for the most efficient implementation of their desired strategy, he stated.
“The existence of ETFs in our market is beneficial to retail and institutional investors, as ETFs offer a direct and inexpensive way to attain diversified exposure to an index, commodity, sector, or region. Asides diversification and tradability, ETFs also offer additional benefits of low expense ratio as compared to mutual funds, increased liquidity and can be used to execute different investment strategies”, he stated.