NGX Ends Positive as Investors Position in Dividend Paying Stocks
Nigerian Exchange (NGX) ends positively this week as investors’ position in dividend-paying stocks. Today’s gain reversed the previous day’s negative sentiment with a gain of ₦17 billion as the market reacted positively to the monetary policy committee (MPC) decision to hold the benchmark rates and assocaited parameters.
With the buying interest, the stock market indicators improved as medium and small capitalized stocks see price appreciations. Consequently, the All-Share Index surge by 32.56 basis points, representing a 0.08 per cent increase to close at 38,943.87 points.
Data shows that equities market capitalisation advance by ₦16.59 billion to close at ₦20.29 trillion, resulting in moderation in the year to date losses. Similarly, the market activities traded bullish as both the total volume and value traded rose by 19.12 per cent and 36.34 per cent, respectively. A total of 155.10 million units of shares valued at ₦1.95 billion were traded in 2,906 deals.
UNIVINSURE outdid the traded stocks in terms of volume, accounting for 12.30 per cent of the total volume of trades, followed by UBA (7.13%), WAPCO (6.60%), ZENITH BANK (6.42%), and UCAP (6.33%) to complete the top five on the volume chart.
While, FLOURMILL emerged as the most traded stock in value terms, with 13.69 per cent of the total value of trades on the exchange. CHIPLC led the advancers table with price appreciation of 8.33 per cent, trailed closely by REGALINS (7.14%), UCAP (6.59%), GTCO (3.15%), HONYFLOUR (2.30%), OANDO (1.76%), ZENITH BANK (0.63%), FLOURMILL (0.17%) and 10 others.
Conversely, ETERNA topped the decliners chart as its share price declined by 6.56 per cent to close at ₦1.14, as WAPCO (-2.27%), VITAFOAM (-1.15%), CUTIX (-1.02%), and STERLNBANK (-0.67%) amongst others also declined in price.
The market breadth closed positively, recording 18 gainers and 9 losers. Consolidated Hallmark Insurance led the gainers’ table in percentage terms, gaining 8.33 per cent to close at 52k per share.
Regency Insurance followed with 7.14 per cent to close at 45k, while Prestige Insurance added 6.82 per cent to close at 47k per share. United Capital gained 6.59 per cent to close at N8.90, while Sovereign Trust Insurance garnered four per cent to close at 26k per share.
On the other hand, Ikeja Hotel drove the laggards’ chart in percentage terms, dropping by 6.56 per cent to close at N1.14 per share. Okomu Oil trailed with 5.45 per cent to close at N104, while Unity Bank dipped 3.51 per cent to close at 55k per share.
Courville Business Solutions was down by 3.33 per cent to close at 29k, while Lafarge Africa lost 2.27 per cent to close at N21.50 per share. Universal Insurance was the most active in The activity chart, exchanging 19.08 million shares valued at N3.82 million. United Bank for Africa accounted for 11.06 million shares worth N84.05 million, while Lafarge Africa traded 10.23 million shares valued at N220.20 million.
Zenith Bank sold 9.95 million shares worth N235.60 million, while United Capital exchanged 9.82 million shares valued at N84.91 million. In all, investors traded 155.09 million shares worth N1.95 billion in 2,906 deals. This was against 130.20 million shares valued at N1.43 billion traded in 2,962 deals on Thursday.
“We expect the lull in the local bourse to persist until positive triggers in the form of lower FI yields and improved dollar liquidity spur buying interest from domestic and FPI investors”, analysts at Cordros Capital said.
That said, analysts hinted that they expect risk-averse investors to recalibrate their portfolio towards fundamentally sound stocks with attractive dividend yields in the week ahead.
Read Also: Stocks Plunge as Nigerian Exchange Extends Bearish Run
However, Cordros advised investors to take positions in only fundamentally justified stocks as the fragility of the macroeconomic environment remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.
NGX Ends Positive as Investors Position in Dividend-Paying Stocks
