LAST week, the performance across sectors was predominantly bullish as the benchmark index settled at 65,003.39 basis points reaching another remarkable 15-year high by the end of Friday’s session.

Fuelled by interest and demand for banking and insurance stocks, with the respective sectors appreciating by 15.81 percent and 5.65 percent Week-on-Week (w/w), the All Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) appreciated by 389 basis points or 3.89 percent w/w, thus increasing the Year-to-Date (YtD) gain to 26.83 percent.

Equities investors, therefore, cumulatively earned N1.33 trillion as the market capitalisation, having gained in four out of five sessions in the week, also went in the northward trajectory, advancing by 3.89 per cent w/w to hit N35.39 trillion.

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Aside from the bullish sentiment in banking and insurance sector due to positive price movements in Sterling Financial Holding Company, Sovereign Insurance, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated and FBN Holdings whose share prices appreciated by 27.33 percent, 26.09 percent, 27.07 percent and 25.65 percent, respectively; strong buying interest in Dangote Cement, with 5.1 per cent weekly appreciation following the conclusion of its share buyback programme, propelled the overall market.

Also winning during the week under review were the industrial goods, consumer goods and oil and gas sectors, appreciating by 2.80 percent, 1.67 percent and 0.64 percent, respectively, as a result of price appreciations in Livestock, UACN, Unilever, Nigerian Breweries and Eterna Oil.

At the local bourse, a total turnover of 4.182 billion shares worth N99.048 billion in 41,446 deals was traded last week by investors, in contrast to a total of 5.246 billion shares valued at N63.417 billion that exchanged hands in 57,234 deals in the preceding week.

The financial services industry, measured by volume, led the activity chart with 3.015 billion shares valued at N36.762 billion traded in 20,079 deals; thus contributing 72.08 per cent and 37.12 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The oil and gas industry followed with 311.172 million shares worth N2.128 billion in 3,473 deals. The third place was the Conglomerates Industry, with a turnover of 180.518 million shares worth N787.392 million in 2,111 deals.

Trading in the top three equities, measured by volume, United Bank for Africa, FCMB Group Plc and Japaul Gold & Ventures Plc, made the mark to account for 1.727 billion shares worth N18.239 billion in 4,707 deals, contributing 41.29 percent and 18.41 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Seventy-three equities appreciated in price last week higher than 29 equities in the previous week. Nineteen equities depreciated in price lower than 77 in the previous week, while 64 equities remained unchanged, higher than 50 recorded in the previous week.

Looking at the performance of specific stocks, several individual stocks stood out in terms of their performance during the week. On the performance board for the week, John Holt, Chellarams, Sterling Financial Holding Company led other gainers having appreciated in share value by 58.01 percent, 32.39 percent and 27.33 percent.

 

While on the laggards board, FTN Cocoa Processor, Courteville Business Solutions and Abbey Mortgage Bank led the chart, having depreciated in share value by 29.08 per cent, 28.09 per cent and 26.32 per cent, respectively

Looking ahead, bullish sentiments is projected with the hope of impressive half-year scorecards by the early filers and market movers which would possibly lead to stock and sectoral repositioning by portfolio managers while others take bet on the possible outcome of next week’s MPC meeting.

“We expect bullish sentiment trading pattern in the coming week as we see the roll out of H1 results with investors plugging into selected stocks with attractive dividend yields and financial performance while keeping wary of abandoning gains in the market,” analyst from Futureview said in it’s weekly report.

Meanwhile , at Cowry Assets, they expect the bullish sentiment to continue as corporates continue to churn out their half-year scorecards, while equity investors continue taking bets on the market based on the possible outcome of the next monetary policy meeting in the face of portfolio repositioning and the hope tide of impressive H1:2022 corporate earnings.

“Meanwhile, we continue to advise investors on taking positions in stocks with sound fundamentals,” they said.

Also, analysts at Cordros Capital said in the interim, it expect the full swing of the H1-23 earnings season to dictate market sentiments and possibly drive positive performance as investors hunt for bargains in fundamentally sound stocks with a consistent history of interim dividend payments.

“In addition, we believe investors will closely watch the outcome of the MPC meeting scheduled to hold next week to gain further clarity on the movement of yields in the FI market. Overall, we advise investors to take positions in only fundamentally justified stocks as the weak macro story remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.”

 

 

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