Last week, investors on the Nigerian Exchange Limited’s floor transacted 3.021 billion shares worth N31.8 billion in 29,153 transactions.
However, the number of shares moved was higher than the 1.8 billion units worth N27.2 billion that were transferred in 36,286 transactions during the week ending May 13, 2022.
Financial services led the activity chart (measured by volume) with 2.24 billion shares worth N12.4 billion exchanged in 10,817 transactions, accounting for 74.30 percent of total stock turnover volume.
The conglomerate sector came in second, with 345.8 million units worth N558.9 million traded in 1,676 transactions. With 149 million shares worth N2.8 billion traded in 5,632 transactions, the consumer goods industry came in third.
The top three stocks, FCMB Group Plc, Jaiz Bank Plc, and Transnational Corporation Plc (measured by volume), traded 1.7 billion shares worth N4 billion in 2,188 transactions, accounting for 56.2 percent of total equity turnover.
According to a breakdown of last week’s transactions, 141,582 units worth N3 million were transferred in 17 deals this week, compared to 175,506 units worth N6.8 million transacted in 36 deals previous week.
In addition, 31,003 units worth N33.2 million were transferred in 11 transactions, compared to 43,629 units worth N48.5 million traded in 33 transactions.
The bears were in charge on the price movement chart, as investors booked profits on bellwether stocks. As a result, the NGX All-share index and market capitalization both fell 0.22 percent this week, closing at 52,979.96 and N28.562 trillion, respectively.
All other indices also finished lower, with the exception of the NGX-Main Board, NGX Insurance, NGX MERI Growth, and NGX Oil/Gas indices, which rose 1.60 percent, 3.63 percent, 0.14 percent, and 0.30 percent, respectively, while the NGX Asem index and the NGX Sovereign bond indexes remained unchanged.
Profit-taking operations in the shares of Flourmill (-10.7%), WAPCO (-8.3%), International Brewery (-6.8%), and MTN Nigeria (-4.8%) accounted for the majority of the weekly loss.
The Insurance (+3.6%) and Oil and Gas (+0.3%) indexes outperformed, while the Banking (-1.2%), Consumer Goods (-1.0%), and Industrial Goods (-0.6%) indices underperformed.
“In the coming week, we expect investors will be focused on the results of the MPC meeting scheduled for next week to obtain further clarity on the direction of yields in the FI market,” Cordros Capital analysts said.
“As a result, we expect cautious buying from investors looking for cyclical equities with high dividend yields.” Nonetheless, we emphasize the need of investing solely in fundamentally good businesses, as the negative macro environment continues to be a big headwind for corporate profitability.”
According to Investdata Consulting, bargain hunters are taking advantage of pullbacks to position themselves in blue chips while sector and portfolio rotation continues.
“This occurred at a time when market participants were digesting inflation reports and earnings yields ahead of next week’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, as well as other concerns about next year’s general election activities, which began with political party primaries at the end of this month.
“As we’ve always stated, profit-taking is one of the market processes that creates possibilities for new entrants,” he said.
