Investors stake N15.5 billion on equities in one week

At the close of transactions last week, a turnover of 1.4 billion shares worth N15.5 billion was recorded in 19,025 deals by investors on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).

This volume of shares traded was, however, higher than 598.8 million units valued at N14.2 billion that exchanged hands in 15,859 deals on October 28, 2022.

A breakdown of activities showed that the financial services industry (measured by volume) led the activities with 804.5 million shares valued at N6.3 billion in 9,922 deals, contributing 57.04 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The agriculture industry followed with 357.6 million shares worth N287.9 million in 560 deals, while the conglomerate’s industry ranked third with a turnover of 68.309 million shares worth N97 million in 530 deals.

Trading in the top three equities namely Access Holdings Plc, FTN Cocoa Processors Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 800.622 million shares worth N3.4 billion in 2,051 deals, contributing 56.76 per cent to the turnover.

On the price movement chart, bullish sentiment buoyed the performance of the domestic bourse as investors renewed bargain hunting in Dangote Cement (+8.8 per cent) and BUA Cement (+2.9 per cent) spurred the upturn.

Consequently, the All-Share Index and market capitalisation appreciated by 0.8 per cent to close the week at 44,269.18 and N24.112 trillion respectively.

Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NGX-Main Board, NGX CG, NGX Banking, NGX Pension, NGX Insurance, NGX-AFR Bank Value, NGX MERI Value, NGX Consumer Goods, NGX Oil and Gas and NGX Sovereign Bond indices. They depreciated by 0.44 per cent, 0.27 per cent, 1.87.per cent, 0.44.per cent, 1.35 per cent, 0.79 per cent, 0.98 per cent, 2.32 per cent, 5.37 per cent and 1.36 per cent respectively.

Reacting to market performance, the Chief Research Officer of Investdata Consulting Limited, Ambrose Omordion, said the prolonged mixed investor sentiments reached their lowest level due to sell-offs and profit-taking resulting in low liquidity and confidence ahead of the 2023 general election and other factors providing huge rally opportunities for discerning traders and investors.

“We expect mixed sentiments to continue on reactions to corporate earnings and bargain hunting in the midst of expected macroeconomic data and election uncertainty, as investors are taking advantage of the low prices to reposition ahead of the Q3 GDP report.”

Cordros Capital said: “Looking ahead, we expect investors to rebalance their portfolios based on an assessment of corporate earnings released for Q3-22. However, the increased FI yields may continue to constrain buying activities.

“Consequently, we expect market performance to remain mixed in the week ahead as investors rotate their portfolios towards stocks with attractive dividend yields amid intermittent profit-taking activities.

“Overall, we advise investors to take positions in only fundamentally justified stocks as the weak macro story remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.”

Also, Vetiva Dealing and Brokerage said: “Taking out the trades in Accesscorp, Seplat and GEREGU, market activity was fairly muted this week. Also, given the current sentiment in the market, we expect neutral to negative sessions next week with pockets of positive close across sectors.”

Further analysis of last week’s trading showed that a total of 4,577 units of Exchange Traded Products valued at N531,565.05 were traded in 28 deals compared with a total of 6,744 units valued at N1.725 million transacted last week in 26 deals.

Furthermore, a total of 121,712 units of bonds valued at N119.220 million were traded this week in 16 deals20 equities appreciated in price during the week, lower than 29 equities in the previous week.