Analysts’ caution investors, as equities market reaches pre-crisis level
The continued positive delivery of the equities market has led capital market experts and analyst at United Capital Research to advise investors to be cautious, as the broader index approaches its pre-crisis level high.
The equities market last reached a record high of 42,899.28pts on July 7th, 2014, but started to decline due to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s monetary tightening policies, naira devaluation, and global fall in oil prices, amongst others.
The growth of the equities market, which is measured by the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s All-Share Index (ASI), however, crossed the 37000pts threshold last week amid stronger economic data, which strengthened investors optimism.
The ASI advanced higher by the end of business on Monday to settle at 37,525.38 basis points, following a 0.27 per cent increase recorded at the close of business on Monday.
This drove YTD returns to 39.6 per cent as market capitalization added N34b to settle at N12.933tn.
The Consumer Goods index which added 2.18 per cent enjoyed investors patronage the most, especially through stocks like Dangote Sugar and Cadbury which added 7.61 and 5 per cent respectively.
On the flip side, the insurance Index that fell by 1.99 per cent, bore the brunt of the sell-off in Continental Reinsurance and NEM that fell 4.32 per cent and 3.94 per cent.
Activity level was, however, weaker than the previous session, as value traded in 4,600 deals slumped to N5.797b from N6.30b traded last Friday in 4,132 deals while volume traded fell to 254.5million, as against 515.5million units traded during the previous session.
Access Bank emerged the most traded with a turnover of 46.3million shares worth N464.5m
Zenith Bank came second with an exchange of 29.6mn shares valued at N746.2m, and Guaranty Trust Bank sold 25.5million shares worth N1.024b. UBA accounted for 15.9milion shares valued at N154.7m, while FBN Holdings exchanged a total of 14.3million shares worth N89.6m.
The Daily Times reports that performance this week is expected to be shaped by the release of outstanding scorecards, particularly among Tier-1 players in the Banking sector, which are also expected to declare interim dividends.
