Last week, the equities market ended the week with a N646 billion gain as the market capitalization closed at N22.572 trillion.
Despite recording losses on three of the five trading sessions, gains in telco heavyweights ensured the market closed in the green territory.
Specifically, strong buying interest in Airtel Africa and MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN) was observed. This was largely due to the euphoria that greeted the announcement of Payment Service Bank (PSB) licence approval by the CBN.
Consequently, the All-Share index of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) closed the week higher by 2.95 per cent gain to close at 43,253.01 points.
However, the sub-sector gauges did not mirror the benchmark index as most of the indices closed in red territory. The NGX Banking, NGX Insurance, NGX Oil & Gas and the NGX Industrial indices decreased by 1.32 per cent, 2.25 per cent, 0.69 per cent and 0.01 per cent to close at 397.96 points, 177.62 points, 381.89 points and 2,196.50 points respectively. However, the NSE Consumer Goods index rose by 0.63 per cent to close at 568.87 points.
The market breadth for the week was negative as 27 equities appreciated in price, 36 equities depreciated in price, while 93 equities remained unchanged. Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals led the gainers table by 12.50 per cent to close at N1.98, per share. Red Star Express followed with a gain of 12.18 per cent to close at N3.50, while Airtel Africa went up by 11.76 per cent to close to N871.70, per share.
On the other side, Conoil led the decliners table by 14.90 per cent to close at N21.70, per share. Pharma-Deko followed with a loss of 9.83 per cent to close at N2.11, while CWG Plc declined by 9.73 per cent to close at N1.02, per share.
Overall, a total turnover of 1.471 billion shares worth N20.941 billion in 20,410 deals were traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.428 billion shares valued at N12.373 billion that exchanged hands previous week in 23,987 deals.
The Financial Services Industry, measured by volume, led the activity chart with 996.555 million shares valued at N10.279 billion traded in 10,565 deals; contributing 67.74 per cent and 49.09 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Conglomerates Industry followed with 203.251 million shares worth N1.204 billion in 834 deals, while Consumer Goods Industry traded a turnover of 105.410 million shares worth N3.217 billion in 2,789 deals.
FBN Holdings (FBNH), Sterling Bank and UACN made the top three equities traded for the week. They accounted for 519.011 million shares worth N4.057 billion in 1,787 deals, contributing 35.28 per cent and 19.37 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Cordros Capital Analysts said in the week ahead, investors are expected to trade cautiously whilst taking positions in stocks with attractive dividend yields ahead of 2021FY dividend declarations.
“In addition, we believe the outcome of the bond auction scheduled to hold during the week will also shape market sentiments. Notwithstanding, we advise investors to take positions in only fundamentally justified stocks as the unimpressive macro story remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings,” Cordros said in its report.
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