Stock Market Cap Rises Near N29trn ahead of Earnings Release
Ahead of corporate earnings releases for the fourth quarter of 2022, the Nigerian equities market has remained upbeat. Last week, stock market capitalisation inched near N29 trillion amidst heavy positioning in growth and value stocks.
With healthy sentiment, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) gained 0.2% to 52,594.68 points supported by buying interest in some mid-cap stocks across key sectors, pushing a year-to-date return to 2.6% >>Inflation Rate Drops to 21.34% in Nigeria
Despite the gain following a moderate level of bargain hunting, stockbrokers noted that the trading activity level was weak as average volume and value traded fell 3.4% and 47.1% sequentially to 248.2 million units and ₦3.1 billion.
Afrinvest said in a market report that the most traded stocks by volume were STERLNBANK (181.5m units), GTCO (68.5m units), and ZENITH (60.3m units) while GEREGU (₦2.7bn), AIRTELAF (₦2.1bn) and GTCO (₦1.7bn) led by value.
However, equities investors took positions in bellwether names – AIRTELAFRI (+3.9%) and PRESCO (+9.7%) – while sell pressures hit DANGCEM (-1.9%). Ahead of 2022 corporate earnings and actions, key performance indicators improved owing to increased buy-power and momentum across some of the large and mid-cap names.
With the exception of the insurance and oil and gas indexes, which gained 1.78% and 0.35%, respectively, week on week, sentiments were mixed across the board from the previous two sessions, stockbrokers at Cowry Asset said.
On the other hand, price declines and pressured sell-offs were witnessed in the banking index, which nosedived by 2.60% week on week and was followed by the industrial goods index (-1.06%) and consumer goods index (-0.40%) in that order.
Meanwhile, the top gaining securities for the week were MRS (+13%), PRESCO (+10%), and CORNERST (+9%) while the week’s losers were LIVESTOCK (-14%), CILEASING (-10%) and GEREGU (-7%).
The market temperature was cold as total deals for the week fell 6. 34% week on week to 18,560 as stockbrokers recorded a marginal 3.5% drop in trade volumes to 1.24 billion and valued at N15.67 billion, indicating a decrease of 47.13% week on week.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Insurance (+1.8%) and Oil and Gas (+0.4%) indices advanced, while the Banking (-2.6%), Industrial Goods (-1.1%), and Consumer Goods (-0.4%) indices declined. >>Nigerian Treasury Bills Yield Crashed to 3.4%
Overall, the Nigerian equities market gained N44.7 billion to N28.6 trillion, consolidating on a 19.98% gain delivered in 2022.
