Tier1 bank’s earnings, interim dividends to boost equities market this week

Tier 1 Banks are expected to hit the market with their results this week, with a declaration of interim dividends to further excite investors and hopefully bring the equities market to yet another positive close by weekend.

So far, activity in the market has been driven by the expectation of earnings’ releases across sectors, but with the earnings season gradually coming to an end, market experts believe that the performance for the week will be largely mixed and driven by developments in the local economy.

An overview of how the market fared in the just concluded week showed that although the market started off the week on a negative note with the All-Share Index, ASI, declining 2.8 per cent last Monday, (an extension of the negative close in the previous week), the market subsequently turned positive on Tuesday and extended till Friday.

The gains, during the week, were attributed to renewed investors’ interest in the Consumer Goods’ counters, specifically, Dangote Sugar, which declared an interim dividend of 50 kobo, compared to the 60k declared for the full year 2016 for the first time.

The Insurance index also closed higher, owing to demand for the shares of Linkage Assurance following an impressive performance in its recently released H1-17 result, wherein PAT grew by 234.40 per cent.

Other notable events during the week was the sale of 2.3 per cent stake in Dangote Cement by Dangote Industries Limited to some foreign investors, in a deal valued at USD236 million; and the acquisition of 4.4 per cent stake in Livestock Feeds in a prearranged deal valued at N133m.

The positive trend on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, thus extended to the fourth consecutive week, with the NSE’s ASI advancing further by 1.52 per cent to reach a new end week high of 37,425.15 points. The week’s performance moved Month to Date (MtD) and Year to Date (YtD) returns of 4.41 per cent and 39.26 per cent respectively, compared to previous week and beginning of the year values.

The Market Capitalization likewise appreciated by 1.53 per cent, to close the week at N12.899 trn, as all sector indices also finished higher during the week with the exception of the NSE’s Banking and the NSE’s Oil/Gas Indexes that depreciated by 1.64 per cent and 3.05per cent respectively, while the NSE’s ASeM Index closed flat.

Thirty-eight equities, led by CI leasing, appreciated in price during the week, lower than fifty-one equities of the previous week. However, twenty-eight equities, led by Morison industries depreciated in price, higher than twenty-three equities of the previous week, while one hundred and five equities remained unchanged higher than ninety-seven equities recorded in the preceding week.