Stock Market Gains N1.7trn over Reforms Induce Rally
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) gains N1.7 trillion last week as economic reforms boosted investors’ sentiments. Due to the share buying festival, key market indicators rose, pushing year-to-date returns upward.
The market saw increased investors’ position in banking names, telecom giants’ shares, and some other financial service companies’ stocks. Though, there was a pullback on Friday.
Then, the local bourse lost ₦106 billion to profit-taking, compared with weekly gain, the amount failed to move key indices downward significantly. The market showed that the All-share index rose 5.5%. In comparison, market return improved to 15.12% from 9.1% as stockbrokers predict a further surge to an expectation that foreign portfolio investors will return to the local bourse.
Activity level advanced as average volume and value rose 143.3% and 69.1% last week respectively to 1.1 billion units and ₦15.5 billion, Afrinvest stockbrokers said in a note. The note stated that most traded stocks by volume were UBA (684.8m units), GTCO (462.7m units), and ACCESSCORP (327.5m units) while GTCO (₦14.7bn), ZENITH (₦9.9bn), and UBA (₦7.9bn) led by value.
Across sectors under its coverage, Afrinvest said the performance was bullish as 5 indices gained while 1 lost. The Banking index led the gainers, up 12.6% due to buying interest in ETI (+22.2%) and STANBIC (+15.6%). Similarly, the Oil & Gas and Insurance indices rose 11.9% and 9.0% respectively.
The uptick was driven by gains on counters including TOTAL (+21.0%), SEPLAT (+10.0%), WAPIC (+40.4%), and SOVRENIN (+27.5%). MTNN (+9.6%), AIRTELAF (+7.8%), GUINNESS (+9.9%), and DANGSUGAR (+9.5%).
Combine, Afrinvest stockbrokers said these tickers pushed the AFR-ICT and Consumer Goods indices higher by 8.7% and 4.1% weekly, respectively. Conversely, the Industrial Goods index was the sole loser, down 1.6% w/w owing to price depreciation in BUACEMENT (-6.5%).
Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, improved to 1.0x from 0.3x in the previous week as 76 stocks gained, 22 lost and 53 were unchanged. The top gainers for the week were FTNCOCOA (+45.2%), UNITYBNK (+41.7%), and WAPIC (+40.4%), while JOHNHOLT (-17.9%), ABCTRANS (-12.8%), and ELLAHLAK (-10.0%) led the decliners.
Stockbrokers anticipate that bullish momentum would continue driven by positive sentiment and strategic positioning in the market. Overall, equities market capitalization increased by ₦1.7 trillion to ₦32.1 trillion. Naira Steadies as Banks Issue Update on FX Purchase
