The Nigerian Exchange (NGX)’s equity division saw a gain of around N34 billion as value investors in the local market became more interested in banking stocks. The Nigerian Exchange All-share index increased 0.1% last week to conclude at 52,465.31 points, maintaining the pace. Market capitalization increased by 33.6 billion to 28.6 trillion as a consequence.
As investors continue to take positions as the stock market starts to recover from the previous dip, trading data from the local exchange shows that year-to-date return increased to 2.4% from 2.2%. The average volume and value traded plummeted 79.4% and 58.3% week over week to 585.3 million and 5.3 billion, respectively, as activity level slowed down.
By volume, ACCESSCORP, TRANSCORP, and FIDELITY were the three most actively traded equities, while by value, ACCESSCORP, ZENITH, and GTCO were in first place (7.6 billion, 2.0 billion, and 1.7 billion respectively). In its market analysis, Afrinvest Limited noted that performance across all industries covered by its coverage universe was remarkable, with 5 indices rising while the Consumer Goods index finished unchanged.
Due to price increases in ZENITH (+5.5%), WEMABANK (+16.6%), SEPLAT (+5.4%), and ARDOVA (+14.6%), the Banking and Oil & Gas indexes increased by 5.2% and 5.1%, respectively, week over week. The Insurance index increased 0.3% week over week as a result of stockbrokers seeing bargain hunting in WAPIC (+4.8%), MBENEFIT (+6.3%), and LINKASSURE (+6.1%).
Additionally, the market saw purchasing activity in the stocks of MTNN (+0.1%), ETRANZACT (+9.4%), and WAPCO (+1.7%), which helped to boost the AFR-ICT and Industrial Goods indexes by 0.1% each. Market breadth, a gauge of investor mood, declined from 0.4x the previous week to 0.3x as 77 companies finished flat and 50 stocks gained.
While TRANSCORP (-31.0%), MCNICHOLS (-17.7%), and GEREGU (-10.0%) topped the decliners, CWG (+25.7%), ACADEMY (+20.0%), and WEMABANK (+16.6%) were the top gainers. Projecting into the new week, stockbrokers at Afrinvest Limited expect the positive performance to persist as investors cherry-pick stocks with sound fundamentals.
