The All-share index and market capitalization increased by 0.1% to conclude the week at 52,657.88 points and N28.681 trillion, respectively, despite investors’ ongoing profit-taking in bellwether stocks, particularly GEREGU power.
Similar to this, all other indices ended higher except for the NGX 30, NGX CG, NGX Premium, NGX MERI Growth, NGX Consumer Goods, and NGX Sovereign Bond indices, which declined by 0.7%, 0.05%, 0.45%, 1.21%, 1.09%, and 2.37%, respectively, while the NGX ASeM index ended level.
In addition, investors transacted 756.7 million shares worth N13.6 billion in 18,248 deals on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), as opposed to 1.241 billion shares worth N15.6 billion in 18,560 deals on January 20, 2023.
The Nigerian stock market, according to analysts, will have a mixed but promising year.
They thought that higher profitability and sound fiscal and monetary policies would be the main forces behind the economic and stock market recoveries in 2023.
They claim that the prognosis is based on market participants’ predictions that the next administration’s policy changes will accelerate the economic recovery.
Cordros Capital analysts stated: “In the subsequent weeks, we expect the NGX to be flooded with corporate earnings as more companies publish audited 2022 full-year numbers, which will be accompanied by dividend declarations.”
“We believe this should provide a catalyst for buying activities even as risk-averse investors are likely to remain cautious owing to medium-term expectations of an uptick in fixed-income yields.”
“Overall, we advise investors to seek trading opportunities in only fundamentally justified stocks as the weak macro story remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.”
Vetiva Dealings and Brokerage also added: “As expected, there was a negative reaction to Guinness’ latest numbers, where PAT declined by 54 per cent in its H1 ’23 period.”
“Hence, the 3.71 per cent decline in the stock’s share price. However, we did see investors buy up Tier-1 banks: Zenith and GTCO, while cross trades done at lower price levels in MTN Nigeria dampened market sentiment.”
“We expect to see improvement in market performance at the start of the week, amid a positive market breadth.”
With 454.7 million shares worth N4.8 billion moved in 8,214 deals, the financial services sector dominated the activity chart (as measured by volume), accounting for 60% of the total amount of equity turnover. Following with 61.7 million shares worth N1.6 billion in 1,600 transactions was the ICT sector.
With a turnover of 56.8 million shares for N119.1 million in 622 deals, the conglomerate industry came in third.
Trading in the top three stocks, FBN Holdings Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, and Fidelity Bank Plc, contributed 21.87 percent of the total equity turnover with 165.5 million shares worth N2.3 billion in 2,530 deals (measured by volume).
A total of 29,711 bonds worth N29.901 million were traded this week in 27 deals as opposed to 21,845 bonds worth N21.565 million that were traded in 14 deals last week.
The number of stocks that increased throughout the week was 44, up from 39 stocks the week before. 29 stocks depreciated less this week than they did the week before, while 84 stocks showed no change.
