Investors on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) transacted 19,025 deals for 1.4 billion shares worth N15.5 billion at the end of last week’s trading.
However, the number of shares moved was more than the 598.8 million shares worth N14.2 billion that were transacted in 15,859 transactions on October 28, 2022.
The financial services sector dominated the activities, as defined by volume, with 804.5 million shares valued at N6.3 billion in 9,922 deals, making up 57.04% of the overall stock turnover volume and value, respectively.
The conglomerate business came in third with a turnover of 68.309 million shares worth N97 million in 530 deals, while the agriculture industry came in second with 357.6 million shares worth N287.9 million in 560 deals.
Trading in the top three stocks, Access Holdings Plc, FTN Cocoa Processors Plc, and Fidelity Bank Plc, contributed 56.76% of the turnover with 800.622 million shares worth N3.4 billion in 2,051 deals.
On the price movement chart, positive mood helped the local stock market perform better as investors resumed their search for bargains in Dangote Cement (+8.8%) and BUA Cement (+2.9%), which fueled the upturn.
As a result, the market capitalization and All-Share Index both increased by 0.8% to end the week at 44,269.18 and N24.112 trillion, respectively.
With the exception of the NGX-Main Board, NGX CG, NGX Banking, NGX Pension, NGX Insurance, NGX-AFR Bank Value, NGX MERI Value, NGX Consumer Goods, NGX Oil and Gas, and NGX Sovereign Bond indices, all other indexes ended the day higher. Accordingly, they lost 0.44 percent, 0.27 percent, 1.87 percent, 0.44 percent, 1.35 percent, 0.79 percent, 0.98 percent, 2.32 percent, 5.37 percent, and 1.36 percent of their value.
Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Research Officer of Investdata Consulting Limited, responded to the market’s performance by stating that the prolonged mixed investor sentiments reached their lowest level as a result of sell-offs and profit-taking that led to low liquidity and confidence prior to the 2023 general election as well as other factors that provided enormous rally opportunities for astute traders and investors.
As investors take advantage of the low prices to reposition themselves ahead of the Q3 GDP report, we anticipate mixed feelings to persist over reactions to company earnings and bargain shopping in the context of anticipated macroeconomic data and election uncertainties.
Looking ahead, we anticipate investors to adjust their portfolios based on an evaluation of company results reported for Q3-22, according to Cordros Capital. However, the higher FI returns could still put a cap on consumer spending.
“As a result, we anticipate that market performance will remain erratic in the coming week as investors rebalance their portfolios in favor of equities that offer appealing dividend rates amidst sporadic profit-taking actions.
Overall, we encourage investors to only invest in fundamentally sound stocks because the negative economic story continues to be a major drag on corporate earnings.
Aside from the deals in Accesscorp, Seplat, and GEREGU, market activity this week was quite subdued, according to Vetiva Dealing and Brokerage. Additionally, given the market’s present mood, we anticipate neutral to negative sessions with isolated pockets of bullish closure across sectors next week.
Further examination of last week’s trading revealed that, as opposed to the 6,744 units valued at N1.725 million transacted last week in 26 deals, 4,577 units of exchange-traded products worth N531,565.05 were traded in 28 deals last week.
Additionally, 121,712 units of bonds for N119.220 million in total were traded this week in 16 trades.
During the week, 20 stocks had their prices rise, which is fewer than the 29 stocks that did so the week before.
