Market News

By Helen Oji

An anticipation of improved half-year (H1) earnings and dividend declarations triggered bargain-hunting on the equities sector of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), last week, as activities recovered from the two-week slowdown, pushing the all-share index (ASI) and market capitalisation up by 1.90 per cent to close the week at 38,667.90 and N20.147 trillion respectively.

Similarly, all other indices finished higher except NGX Insurance and NGX ASeM indices which depreciated by 0.74 per cent and 0.31 per cent respectively while the NGX Growth Index closed flat.

The sustained bull trend continued despite the two-day holidays declared by the Federal government to mark the Eid-el Kabir.

Analysts linked the performance to bargain hunters positioning as profit-taking slows down amid rekindled buying interests ahead of more scorecards.

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Analysts at Cordros Capital said “In the week ahead, we believe investors will be focused on the outcome of the MPC meeting to gain further clarity on the movement of yields in the FI market.

“We also expect the NGX floor to be flooded with corporate earnings as more companies publish their unaudited H1-21 numbers, accompanied by dividend declarations. We believe this should provide respite for market performance.

“Overall, we advise investors to take positions in only fundamentally justified stocks as the weak macro story remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings for corporate earnings.”

Afrinvest Securities Limited said: “In the coming week, we expect the positive momentum to be sustained, as more impressive H1:2021 earnings results are churned out.”

Last week, trading in the top three equities – Jaiz Bank Plc, Sterling Bank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc –accounted for 369.879 million shares worth N385.516 million in 785 deals, contributing 41.27 per cent to the total equity turnover.

Transactions in the shares of the three banks lifted the financial services industry (measured by volume), as the sector led the activity chart with 718.57 million shares valued at N3.009 billion traded in 6,223 deals; thus, contributing to the total equity turnover volume.

Consumer goods followed with 46.437 million shares worth N948.489 million in 1,856 deals. The third place was the conglomerate industry, with a turnover of 39.798 million shares worth N207.132 million in 366 deals.

Consequently, a turnover of 896.174 million shares worth N5.235 billion was recorded 11,714 deals by investors on the floor of the exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.008 billion units valued at N10.923 billion that was exchanged in 17,297 deals during the preceding week.

A total of 8,032 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) valued at N1.864 million were traded this week in 19 deals compared with a total of 7,403 units valued at N486,759.25 transacted during the preceding week in 17 deals.

11,776 units of bonds, valued at N12.167 million were also recorded in 10 deals compared with a total of 29,583 units valued at N29.805 million transacted last week in 12 deals.

Forty-three equities appreciated during the week, higher than 29 in the previous week. 16 equities depreciated lower than 22 equities in the previous week, while 97 equities remained unchanged higher than 95 equities recorded in the previous week.