Equities market trades N30.8bn as financial stocks contribute 64.14%

The volume of shares traded on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) witnessed an uptrend last week, as 1.713 billion, shares, worth N30.8 billion were recorded in 24,767 deals last week.

This amount was, however, higher than a total of 1.331 billion units, valued at N22.7 billion, that changed hands in 27,822 deals on February 11, 2022.

The financial services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.064 billion shares valued at N12.2 billion in 11,708 deals; thus, contributing 62.14 per cent to the total equity turnover volume.

Similarly, the consumer goods industry followed with 156.077 million units worth N5.004 billion in 4,877 deals.

The conglomerate industry ranks third with a turnover of 113.554 million shares worth N309.8 million in 1,062 deals.

Trading in the top three equities namely Access Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 500.778 million shares worth N7.455 billion in 3,603 deals, contributing 29.23 per cent to the total equity turnover volume.

Further breakdown of last week’s transactions showed that a total of 10,633 units of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) valued at N1.1 million were traded in 27 deals compared with a total of 31,239 units valued at N37.2 million transacted in 53 deals during the preceding week.

Also, a total of 40,892 units valued at N44.706 million were traded in 22 deals compared to a total of 79,150 units valued at N83.791 million transacted last in 25 deals.

On the price movement chart, the NGX All-share index and market capitalisation depreciated by 0.13 per cent and 0.12 per cent to close the week at 47,140.48 and N25.406 trillion respectively.

Notably, profit-taking in SEPLAT (-5.9 per cent), GTCO (-1.5 per cent), ACCESS (-1.4 per cent), AIRTELAFRI (-0.9 per cent) and DANGCEM (-0.5 per cent) drove the weekly loss.

However, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NGX Premium, NGX Banking, NGX AFR Bank value, NGX Oil & Gas and NGX Industrial Goods which depreciated by 0.29 per cent, 0.74 per cent, 0.86 per cent, 3.45 per cent, and 0.32 per cent respectively while the NGX Main Board, NGX Asem, NGX Growth and NGX Sovereign Bond Indices closed flat.

Analysts at Codros Capital said: “In the coming weeks, we expect the NGX floor to be flooded with corporate earnings as more companies publish their audited 2021FY numbers, accompanied by dividend declarations.

“We believe this would provide a catalyst for buying activities even as risk-averse investors are likely to remain cautious due to medium-term expectations of an uptick in FI yields.

“Overall, we advise investors to seek trading opportunities in only fundamentally justified stocks as the weak macro story remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.”

Vetiva Dealings and Brokerage said: “Next week, we foresee a lukewarm start to trading, as investors continue to digest the latest economic data while cherry-picking attractive counters. We also anticipate some profit-taking activity on some of this week’s gainers.”