Equities investors in Nigeria’s stock market saw a weekly gain of almost N608 billion as buying enthusiasm mounted on banks and energy sectors. Nigerian stocks performed well, rising in three of the last five trading sessions.
According to Cowry Asset Limited, the increase was driven by equities investors’ optimism about anticipated macroeconomic changes.
Market watchers said higher expectations for favourable fiscal and monetary policies from expected inflation statistics in the next week ahead of the monetary policy committee meeting, as well as stronger corporate profits from dividend-paying banking companies, spurred optimistic sentiment.
Stockbrokers reported that the Nigerian Exchange benchmark index soared by 1.06% week on week, crossing the 97,000 mark to close the week at 97,456.62 points due to renewed optimism across all market sectors.
Given the positive investor sentiment witnessed across the sectors, the year-to-date return rose to 30.34%. The local exchange recorded 52 gainers as against 31 decliners as the weekly average traded volume advanced by 20.7% week on week to 2.58 billion with a total value of N51.21 billion.
However, the weekly deals nosedived by 8.9% week on week to 50,617 trades in the current week. The weekly performance was underscored by positive momentum across key sectors such as banking, consumer goods, and oil & gas.
The Banking index was the leading gainer this week with 5.12% week on week uptick. This was propelled by price rises in FBNH, ETI, ACCESS and FIDELITYBNK respectively.
Also, upbeat in momentum from position taking in OANDO and ETERNA led to a 2.00% weekly gains for the Oil & Gas index and was followed by insurance (1.59%), the consumer goods (1.47%) and industrial goods (0.17%).
At the close of the week, stocks such as CAVERTON (59.7%), RTBRISCOE (42%), UPDC (37%), FBNH (32%), and ETRANZACT (30%) emerged as the weekly top advancers on the back of positive price movements.
On the other hand, the likes of LEARNAFRICA (22%), JULIUS BERGER (18%), PZ CUSSONS (18%), DAARCOMM (12%), and SOVRENINS (11%) all reported adverse price movements as investors rebalance their portfolio ahead of strong expectations for a favourable macros.
Overall, the equities market capitalisation of the Nigerian Exchange increased week on week by 1.10% to N56 trillion as investors saw N607.8 billion in weekly gains.
Market Expectation
As Nigeria’s macro landscape continues to evolve, the bourse is poised for further activity in reaction to the changing fundamentals and technical even as we expect continued volatility and entry opportunities for savvy investors, Cowry Asset Limited told investors.
The investment firm expects positive sentiment to rule the local bourse in the coming week on portfolio rebalancing, and position taking in value – giving and fundamentally sound stocks given the relative strength of the market index trading above the T-line.
