Shares of Access Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc were investors’ favourite at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) last week as the banking stocks constituted top trades to drive the market’s weekly turnover.
In terms of volume, trading in the top three equities accounted for 500.778 million shares worth N7.455 billion in 3,603 deals, contributing 29.23 per cent and 24.23 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Generally, a total turnover of 1.713 billion shares worth N30.764 billion in 24,767 deals was traded during the week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.331 billion shares valued at N22.700 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 27,822 deals.
As such, activity levels were stronger than in the prior week, as trading volume and value rose by 28.7 per cent and 35.5 per cent respectively.
The Financial Services Industry led the volume chart with 1.064 billion shares valued at N12.201 billion traded in 11,708 deals; thus contributing 62.14 per cent and 39.66 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Consumer Goods Industry followed with 156.077 million shares worth N5.004 billion in 4,877 deals. The third place was The Conglomerates Industry, with a turnover of 113.554 million shares worth N309.833 million in 1,062 deals.
Business Metrics observed that the week was a keenly contested battle between the bulls and the bears as mixed sentiments dominated trading activities on the local bourse.
At the close of the five-day trading week, the bears triumphed to the detriment of stock investors as the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) shed 0.13 per cent to close at 47,140.48 points point, while market capitalisation lost N30 billion to close the week lower at N25.406 trillion.
Accordingly, the Month-to-Date (MtD) and year-to-date (YtD) return settled at 1.1 per cent and 10.4 per cent in that order.
Performance across sectors was mixed, as the Consumer Goods index grew by 2.3 per cent and Insurance index waxed stronger by 1.0 per cent, while the Oil and Gas (-3.4 per cent), Banking (-0.7 per cent) and Industrial Goods (-0.3 per cent) indices closed in the red.
Comments
Investment experts at Cordros Capital expect the next trading week to be shaped by more corporate earnings reports and dividend declaration.
“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,” they said in a note obtained by Business Metrics on Sunday.
They further advised investors to seek trading opportunities in only fundamentally justified stocks as the weak macro story remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.
Also counting on the new earnings report as stimulus in the coming week, analysts at Cowry Asset Management Limited said, “In the new week, we expect the equities market to be bullish as corporates that opted for 60-days filing option have started releasing their audited FY 2021 results with stimulating dividend payouts.
More Data
Aside equities, trading statistics obtained from the NGX also showed that during the week, investors traded a total of 10,633 units of ETP valued at N1.181 million in 27 deals compared with a total of 31,239 units valued at N37.245 million transacted in the preceding week in 53 deals.
The bond segment of the NGX saw investors transacted a total of 40,892 units valued at N44.706 million were traded in 22 deals compared with a total of 79,150 units valued at N83.791 million transacted in 25 deals previously.
