NGX Rises to N24.1trn as Dangote, BUA, NAHCO Gain
The equities segment of the Nigerian Exchange, NGX, balloons following gains in cement companies’ shares, supported by FTN Cocoa, NAHCO. The market temperature was heated up with buying interest amidst weakening return on naira assets.
At the close of trading sessions on Friday, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) expanded 0.8% above the previous week’s record to settle at 44,269.18 points.
Consequently, year-to-date return strengthened to 3.6%, 800 basis points above the 2.8% recorded in the prior week. Overall, the equities segment of the Nigerian Exchange saw an increase in market capitalisation, up by ₦194.2 billion to ₦24.1 trillion.
According to trading data from the local bourse, activity level improved as average volume and value traded grew 135.5% and 9.0% above the previous week’s record to 282.0m units and ₦3.1 billion respectively.
In its market report, Afrinvest Limited stated that the top traded stocks by volume were ACCESSCORP (177.1m units), STERLNBANK (71.0m units), and TRANSCORP (55.5m units).
Meanwhile, SEPLAT with ₦3.9 billion value of shares traded led the value chart while ACCESSCORP transacted ₦1.4 billion worth of shares, and MTNN did ₦1.3 billion.
Afrinvest said the stock market performance was bearish across sectors within its analysts’ coverage universe as only 1 of 6 indices gained in the just concluded week.
The Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods indices led laggards, down 5.4% and 2.3% week on week respectively on the back of losses in SEPLAT, OANDO, INTBREW, and UNILEVER.
Trailing, the Banking and Insurance indices dipped 1.9% and 1.3% below the previous week’s record level respectively following negative movements in prices of ETI, UNITYBNK, CORNERST, and SOVRENIN shares.
According to market data, OANDO’s share valuation was knocked down by 6.1% last week. At the same time, INTBREW lost 9.8% and UNILEVER declined by 7.0%. READ: NGX Declines as Investors Sold MTNN, BUA Cement
Trading records indicate that ETI valuation dropped by 9.1% in the just concluded week due to large selloffs. UNITY BANK declined by 8.7% after major profit-takings activities on the stock.
There was major sell pressure in some activities insurance stocks like CORNERST whose market price was lowered by 12.0% while SOVRENIN lost 10.7% of its opening price in the week.
Similarly, equities investors developed cold feet on MTN Nigeria’s share which saw a depreciation of 0.5%. This dragged the AFR-ICT index down by 0.2% week on week, according to a market report.
On the flip side, buying interest in the cement stock as top members (Dangote and BUA) of the oligarch family released their earnings performance for the third quarter of the financial year 2022.
Stockbrokers at Afrinvest Securities Limited stated that DANGCEM and BUACEMENT pushed the Industrial Goods index up by 5.4% week on week.
DANGCEM’s share price gained 8.8% while BUACEMENT inched higher by +2.9% as some investors took buying positions in the heavyweights.
Though NGX gained, equities investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, weakened to -0.24x (previously:-0.02x) as 20 stocks gained, 42 lost while 90 were unchanged.
The top outperforming stocks for the week were FTNCOCOA (+13.3%), NAHCO (+10.5%), and DANGCEM (+8.8%) while CHAMS (-14.8%), IKEJAHOT (-13.0%), and CORNERST (-12.0%) were the top underperforming stocks.
Projecting to the new week, Afrinvest analysts are expecting bargain hunting activities to drive marginal gains. #NGX Rises to N24.1trn as Dangote, BUA, NAHCO Gain
