SAT 09 APRIL, 2022-theGBJournal |Closing the week, the equities market recovered some prior session losses, bringing the benchmark index up by 0.19% to close at 46,631.46 points.
Sustained rebounds in Tier-1 banking names, GTCO (+2.45%), ZENITHBANK (+0.88%), UBA (+1.29%) and ACCESSCORP (+1.03%) ensured the market’s strong performance. However, having gained in two of five trading sessions this week, the ASI closed 0.45% lower w/w, extending losses for the fourth consecutive week.
Over the course of the week, MTNN (-3.74% w/w) was the main driver of the week’s loss, following the share price being marked down ex-div. In addition, losses in WAPCO (-6.78% w/w), FBNH (-3.28% w/w) and NB (-0.62% w/w) contributed to the overall market decline. Consequently, the year-to-date (YTD) return dipped to 9.17%, while the market capitalization shed N113.97bn w/w to close at N25.14trn.
Analysis of today’s market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions declining by 25.34%. A total of 154.12m shares valued at N1.75bn were exchanged in 4,515 deals. FIDELITYBK (+0.85%), for the fourth consecutive session, led the volume chart with 20.22m units traded, while ZENITHBANK (+0.88%) led the value chart in deals worth N274.0m.
Market breadth closed positive at a 1.75-to-1 ratio with advancing issues outnumbering declining ones. ARDOVA (+9.87%) topped twenty-seven (27) others on the gainer’s log, while ROYALEX (-9.52%) led fifteen (15) others on the laggard’s table.
Meanwhile, global stocks posted another mixed performance as investors weighed (1) the prospects of a rapid reduction in Fed Reserve’s debt holdings to curb the increase in inflation and (2) a new wave of sanctions on Russia from the European Union following the ongoing geopolitical crisis.
Accordingly, US (DJIA: -0.7%; S&P 500: -1.0%) stocks were on track to close the week in the red as investors digested the prospects of monetary policy tightening from the US Fed Reserve.
On the other hand, European stock markets (STOXX Europe: +0.3%; and FTSE 100: +1.0%) were on course for another weekly gain as defensive sectors buoyed investors’ sentiments even as they traded cautiously on concerns about the global economic outlook.
Elsewhere, Asian markets posted broadly negative performances, as the (1) Nikkei 225 (-2.5%) settled lower mirroring the selloffs on Wall Street, and (2) SSE (-0.9%) recorded losses as surging Covid-19 cases heightened concerns about further lockdown measures in China. The Emerging (MSCI EM: -1.7%) markets stocks closed lower following bearish sentiments in China (-0.9%) while the Frontier (MSCI FM: +0.6%) market stocks closed in green consequent upon gains in Kuwait (+1.2%).
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