Investors on equities market gain N390.26bn in one week

By Motolani Oseni

Investors on the equities market of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) gained N390.26billion in last week’s transactions over gain in 27 listed equities.

The market opened for trading at N18.228 trillion, 2.2per cent increase from N17.838trillion it closed for trading in the prior week.

Consequently, the NSE All-Share Index (ASI) closed last week at 34,885.51 basis points, a 2.2 per cent increase from 34,136.82 basis points the equities market opened for trading.

The Month-till-Date (MtD) return rose to 14.3 per cent while the Year-tillDate (YtD) return for index improved to 30per cent.

Performance across sectors was broadly positive – save for the Banking (-1.3 per cent) and Consumer Goods (-0.5 per cent) indices –with the Industrial (+4.4 per cent), Oil and Gas (+0.6 per cent), and Insurance (+0.3 per cent) indices closing in the green.

In all, a total of 27 equities appreciated at price during the week, higher than 21 in the previous week even as 43 depreciated, lower than 55 equities in the previous week, while 91 remained unchanged, higher than 85 recorded in the previous week.

A turnover of 1.816 billion shares worth N25.791 billion in 31,665 deals were traded in the week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 11.400 billion shares valued at N35.892 billion that exchanged hands upper week in 39,265 deals.

The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.274 billion shares valued at N14.710 billion traded in 18,392 deals; thus contributing 70.15% and 57.04% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The Conglomerates Industry followed with 217.170 million shares worth N231.809 million in 1,226 deals.

The third place was the Consumer Goods Industry, with a turnover of 113.760 million shares worth N2.598 billion in 4,568 deals.

Trading in the top three equities namely Zenith Bank Plc, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc and Access Bank Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 649.529 million shares worth N8.104 billion in 6,395 deals, contributing 35.76% and 31.42% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

ETPs recorded a total of 471,624 units valued at N4.224 billion traded in 88 deals compared with a total of 21,455 units valued at N174.674 million transacted last week in 15 deals.

A total of 9,697 units of Bonds valued at N12.173 million were traded this week in 8 deals compared with a total of 11,014 units valued at N15.257 million transacted last week in 15 deals.

“With the recent decision of the MPC to hold monetary policy parameters constant in furtherance of their growth objective, we expect alpha-seeking investors to continue rotating their portfolio towards equities amid attractive dividend yields on the bellwether stocks.

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“We expect market performance to be dominated by the bulls, as positioning by early birds in dividendpaying stocks ahead of FY 2020 dividend declarations should outweigh profit-taking activities.

“We reiterate the need for positioning in only fundamentally sound stocks as the weak macro environment remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings,“ Cordros Research explained in its weekly report.