NGX Edges Higher on Bargain Hunting in Bellwether Stocks
The Nigerian Exchange, NGX, edges higher on Wednesday over bargain hunting in well capitalised stocks like Dangote Cement, Zenith, United Bank for Africa among others. The Nigerian stock market has been volatile in recent times due to yields repricing in the fixed income market. Retail investors have offloaded significantly while seeking to move their funds into safe haven.
However, upward yield repricing in the fixed income space appears to have slowed down as monetary policy maintained a dovish stance in May. Today’s rally brought the year-to-date performance of the All-Share Index to stand at -4.44% as the NGX All-share index pegged at 38,482.52 points.
Then, stock market capitalization inched higher as it increases by N36 billion to stand at N20.058 trillion, a 0.18% increase in investors’ net worth.
Buying interest in DANGCEM raise its value by 1.4%, ZENITH stock gained 0.4% and UBA jumped 0.7%.
Meanwhile, trading activity at Broadstreet weakened as volume and value traded fell by 42.9% and 49.5% to 156.9 million units and ₦1.3 billion respectively.
The most traded stocks by volume were JAPAULGO (20.0m units), FBNH (12.2m units), and TRANSCORP (11.8m units). SEPLAT traded stock worth ₦320.0 million, ZENITH ₦121.2 million, and UACN ₦118.9 million to lead the chart in terms of the transaction value.
Mixed Sector Performance: Afrinvest said performance across sectors under its coverage was mixed as 3 indices gained and 3 lost. The Insurance index led gainers, up 0.8% due to buying interest in WAPIC (+3.5%) and NEM (+2.4%).
Similarly, the Industrial Goods and Banking indices rose 0.5% and 2bps respectively, following price appreciation in DANGCEM (+1.4%) and ZENITH (+0.4%). Conversely, the Consumer Goods, Oil & Gas, and AFR-ICT indices fell 16bps, 5bps and 1bps respectively on the back of sell-offs in DANGSUGAR (-0.3%), OANDO (-0.7%), and CWG (-9.7%).
Investor Sentiment Weakens: Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth weakened to 0.8x from 1.1x in the last trading session as 15 stocks advanced while 20 declined. On the gainer chart, UPL stock jumped by 9.4%, followed by REGALINS with 8.2% gain and VERITASKAP surged by 5.0%.
Topping the losers’ chart, CWG stock plunged 9.7%, IKEJAHOTEL tumbled by 9.1% and NASCON dropped 8.8%. “We expect the market to extend its soft gain in the next trading session, amid bargain hunting on some large-cap stocks”, Afrinvest said.
NGX Edges Higher on Bargain Hunting in Bellwether Stocks
