As 43 companies had their prices increase last week, investors on the Nigerian stock market saw a N197 billion increase in the value of their shares. The market capitalization and NGX All-Share Index of the Nigerian Exchange Limited both increased by 0.73 percent to end the week at 50,045.83 and N26.994 trillion, respectively. The NGX- Growth Index depreciated by 0.51 percent, while the NGX ASeM and NGX Sovereign Bond indices closed flat. Similarly, all other indices ended higher. Investors traded 1.195 billion shares worth N12.924 billion last week in 19,305 transactions, compared to 914.443 million shares worth N15.263 billion that changed hands in 18,021 transactions the week before.
With 1.017 billion shares worth N5.685 billion exchanged in 10,107 deals, the Financial Services Industry dominated the activity chart in terms of volume, accounting for 85.09 percent and 43.9 percent, respectively, of the overall stock turnover volume and value. Following 37.063 million shares worth N4.575 billion in 1,996 transactions was the ICT sector. The Consumer Goods Industry came in third with a turnover of 35.184 million shares worth N1.209 billion in 2,471 transactions.
The top three stocks, Sterling Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, and Access Holdings Plc, saw 540.056 million shares traded for N1.499 billion in 2,179 deals, accounting for 45.18 percent and 11.60 percent of the total volume and value of equity activity, respectively. During the week, 43 stocks had their prices rise, compared to 27 stocks the week before.
Twenty-one stocks dropped in value, down from 38 the week before, while 92 stocks were steady, up from the 91 stocks reported the week before. Although the local stock exchange started the week on a downbeat note, bargain-hunting activities picked up pace later in the week as the All-Share Index increased, according to analysts at Cordros Securities. “We expect alpha-seeking investors to continue to seek trading opportunities in stocks of companies that delivered impressive earnings during the Q2-22 earnings season amid the yield uptick in the FI market,” Cordros said in a statement.
However, as the political climate heats up, they believe the lack of a near-term catalyst would likely tilt general market sentiments to the negative side. Despite this, they continue to stress the need of investing solely in fundamentally strong stocks because the weak macroeconomic environment continues to be a major drag on corporate profitability.
