Despite profit-taking at the Nigerian equities market last week, gains at the start of the week drove the stock market beyond the 28,000-point mark and to its largest weekly gain since May.
Basically, the All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed the week higher by 5.3 per cent at 28,415.31 basis points, while the market capitalisation gained N747.1 billion, closing at N14.85 trillion, from the previous weekend’s N14.11 trillion.
Consequently, the Month-to-Date (MtD) and Year-to-Date (YtD) return for the ASI grew to 5.9 per cent, on gains of MTN Nigeria, Airtel Africa and Dangote Cement, whose shares appreciated by 8.2 per cent, 7.8 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively.
All the sectoral indexes were bullish, led by the NSE Banking index’s 7.83 per cent, followed by the NSE Industrial Goods that added 2.72 per cent, just as the Consumer Goods, Oil/Gas and Insurance indexes recorded 2.02 per cent, 2.01 per cent and 1.96 per cent gains respectively.
There were robust activities during the week under review in terms of volume and value, as they went up by 105.23 per cent and 109.29 per cent respectively after investors traded 3.14 billion shares worth N35.37 billion, compared to the previous week’s 1.53 billion units valued at N16.9 billion.
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The best-performing stocks during the period under review, were Eterna and International Breweries, which gained 32.48 per cent and 21.03 per cent respectively to close at a share price of N3.63 and N4.72.
On the other hand, UACN Property and Tripple Gee and Company lost 11.96 per cent and 10 per cent respectively, at N0.81 and N0.36 per share on market forces and profit-taking.
For this week, analysts at Cordros Capital expect the market might continue to benefit as domestic investors seek alpha-yielding opportunities in the face of increasingly negative real returns in the fixed income market. However, they l advise investors to trade in only fundamentally justified stocks as the weak macro environment remains a significant headwind for listed companies.
Ambrose Omordion of Investdata Consulting Ltd, however, advise investors to target fundamentally sound, dividend-paying stocks, for possible capital appreciation in the coming months.
“Also, traders and investors need to change their strategies, because of the NSE’s pricing methodology, the CBN directives, and their impact on the economy in the nearest future,” Omordion said.
Local equities market records highest weekly gain in five months
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