Investors in the Nigerian stock market saw the worth of their shares rise by N197bn last week as 43 firms recorded price appreciation.
The NGX All-Share Index of the Nigerian Exchange Limited and market capitalisation appreciated by 0.73 per cent to close the week at 50,045.83 and N26.994tn respectively.
Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NGX- Growth Index which depreciated by 0.51 per cent while, the NGX ASeM and NGX Sovereign Bond indices closed flat.
A total turnover of 1.195 billion shares worth N12.924bn in 19,305 deals was traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 914.443 million shares valued at N15.263bn that exchanged hands previous week in 18,021 deals.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.017 billion shares valued at N5.685bn traded in 10,107 deals; thus contributing 85.09 per cent and 43.99 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The ICT Industry followed with 37.063 million shares worth N4.575bn in 1,996 deals. The third place was the Consumer Goods Industry, with a turnover of 35.184 million shares worth N1.209bn in 2,471 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Sterling Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc and Access Holdings Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 540.056 million shares worth N1.499bn in 2,179 deals, contributing 45.18 per cent and 11.60 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Forty-three equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than 27 equities in the previous week.
Twenty-one equities depreciated in price lower 38 in the previous week, while 92 equities remained unchanged higher than 91 equities recorded in the previous week.
Analysts at Cordros Securities said though the local bourse opened the week on a negative note, bargain-hunting activities regained steam in the latter part of the week as the All-Share Index rose.
Cordros stated that, “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.
“However, we think the absence of a near-term catalyst will likely skew overall market sentiments to the negative side, particularly as the political space gets heated.”
“Notwithstanding, we reiterate the need for positioning in only fundamentally sound stocks as the unimpressive macro environment remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.”
