NSE defies year-end lull, gains 1.73 per cent
Nigerian Stock Exchange
The All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian StocK Exchange (NSE) defied the year-end lull that held the market down last week, rising by 592.70 points or 1.73 per cent to close 34,843.44 points. Also, investors gained N309 billion in value as market capitalisation went up to N18.211 trillion.
The upturn was triggered by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Airtel Africa, Dangote Cement, Guinness Nigeria, Lafarge Africa and BOC Gases Nigeria.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited predicted that bargain hunting would dominate trades this week, following the previous week’s losses. Market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was positive with 26 stocks recording gains relative to 14 losers.
Airtel Africa recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent, to close at N704.00 kobo. Royal Exchange and Aiico Insurance followed with a gain of 9.52 per cent each, to close at 23 kobo and N1.15 kobo respectively.
FTN Cocoa Processors and Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals rose by 9.09 per cent each, to close at 48 kobo and N2.40, respectively. Mutual Benefits Assurance went up by 8.33 per cent to close at 26 kobo while Wapic Insurance appreciated by 7.69 per cent to close at 42 kobo.
On the other hand, Prestige Assurance led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent, to close at 45 kobo. International Breweries followed with a decline of 9.89 per cent to close at N6.47, while Cutix declined by 9.47 per cent to close at N1.72.
NASCON Allied Industries (NASCON) declined by 9.38 per cent to close at N14.50, while Jaiz Bank shed 8.82 per cent to close at 62 kobo.
Meanwhile, the total volume of trades decreased by 73.9 per cent to 208.095 million units, valued at N3.700 billion and exchanged in 4,154 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 38.634 million shares valued at N875.678 million. Guaranty Trust Bank followed with 19.167 million shares worth N632.187 million, while Access Bank traded 16.142 million shares valued at N130.077 million.
Regency Alliance Insurance traded 11.903 million shares valued at N2.383 million, while Mutual Benefits Assurance transacted 9.192 million shares worth N2.291 million.
Last week, activities on the NSE were bearish, a situation operators attributed to year-end selloff. ASI and market capitalisation depreciated by 2.53 per to close the week at 34,250.74 and N17.902 trillion. Similarly, all other indices finished lower while the NSE ASeM Index closed flat.
The market recorded a weekly loss on continued profit-taking due to the preparations for the festivities.The operators noted that investors were offloading their equity to attend to some basic needs which resulted in the decline in both market indicators.
An independent investor, Amaechi Egbo said some institutional investors have started bookkeeping and stocktaking to prepare for the end of the year, which contributed to the dominance of bears in the market.
Analyst at Codros capital said: “We expect the profit-taking and negative reaction to the unanticipated front-end supply from the CBN to be short-lived. Yields in the fixed income market remain relatively unattractive, and we expect this to remain positive for stocks.
“However, we advise investors to take positions in only fundamentally-justified stocks as the weak macro environment remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.”
Analysts at Vetiva Brokerage said: “We expect the market to open the week on a muted note, with investors maintaining a risk-averse approach in the bonds and NTBs spaces. Meanwhile, we expect the improvement in oil prices to help support buy-side activity in the OMO space.”
A breakdown of transactions last week showed that transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed on a downturn on Monday, causing market capitalisation to depreciate by N38 billion.
The ASI shed 73.63 absolute points, representing a decline of 0.21 per cent to close at 35,064.36 points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value also declined by N38 billion to close at N18.327 trillion.
The downtrend was driven by price depreciation in medium and large capitalised stocks amongst which are; Nigerian Breweries, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), Dangote Sugar Refinery, Zenith Bank and Lafarge Africa.
On Tuesday, the NSE ASI which measures the performance of quoted companies depreciated by 30.62 basis points to 35033.74 points from 35064.36 traded on Monday.
Also, the market capitalisation of listed equities declined by N16 billion to N18.310 trillion from N18.326 trillion reported the previous day. Investors traded 306.918 million shares worth N3.274 billion in 4500 deals against 324.29 million shares valued at N3.191 billion in 4103 deals.
The Nigerian equities market extended its current losing streak to the three consecutive trading sessions, on Wednesday, as sell-offs in 21 stocks dragged the ASI further by 0.04 per cent.
The ASI depreciated by 12.48 absolute points, representing a decline of 0.04 per cent to close at 35,021.26 points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value declined by N7 billion to close at N18.304 trillion.
The downtrend was driven by price depreciation in medium and large capitalised stocks amongst which are Ardova Plc, Fidson Healthcare, Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals, Julius Berger and Champion Breweries.
Further analysis of last week’s trading showed that a turnover of 2.265 billion shares worth N20.990 billion was exchanged in 23,722 deals by investors on the floor of the exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.675 billion units valued at N25.425 billion that changed hands in 23,650 deals during the preceding week.
The financial services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.884 billion shares valued at N14.933 billion traded in 13,602 deals, thus contributing 83.15 per cent to the total equity turnover.
The consumer goods industry followed with 116.400 million shares worth N2.817 billion in 3,474 deals. The third place was conglomerates industry, with a turnover of 107.803 million shares worth N231.323 million in 897 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Jaiz Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc and Zenith Bank Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 894.000 million shares worth N7.077 billion in 4,045 deals, contributing 39.47 per cent to the total equity turnover.
A total of 292,510 units valued at N2.270 billion were traded last week in 45 deals compared with a total of 543,655 units valued at N4.694 billion transacted last week in 36 deals.
13 equities appreciated during the week, lower than two equities in the previous week. 46 equities depreciated, higher than 45 equities in the previous week while 102 equities remained unchanged, higher than 94 recorded in the previous week.
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