SAT. 31 DEC, 2022-theGBJournal| In the final trading day of the year, the bulls maintained their grip over the market to close the week in the green.
As a result, the All-Share Index gained 1.89% – the largest single day gain in the month – to close at 51,251.06 points, the highest level since 25 July.
Trading in the top three equities namely Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc and FBN Holdings Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 1.149 billion shares worth N3.469 billion in 295 deals, contributing 61.11% and 18.27% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The overall market was driven by gains in AIRTELAFRI (+9.88%), GEREGU (+6.66%) and PRESCO (+10.00%) as investors begin to take positions ahead of FY 2022 earning season. Having gained in all five trading sessions this week, the ASI closed 3.59% higher w/w, its seventh consecutive weekly gain.
Over the course of the year, some of the top performers include PZ (+86.07% y/y), GUINNESS (+77.69% y/y), AIRTELAFRI (+71.20% y/y), FIDELITYBK (+70.59% y/y) and SEPLAT (+69.23% y/y), while some of the laggards include HONYFLOUR (-31.18% y/y), NESTLE (-29.33% y/y), UNILEVER (-20.00% y/y), NB (-18.00% y/y) and GTCO (-11.54% y/y).
In summary, the NGX Exchange finished the year, up 19.98% y/y – the third consecutive annual gain, while the market capitalization added N5.62trn y/y to close at N27.92trn.
NGX Sector Indices: Year to date, the performance of all sector indices under our coverage closed largely positive. NGX Oil and Gas was the best performer gaining 34.60%, followed by NGX Industrial (+19.67%), NGX Pension (+5.38%), NGX Banking (+5.84%) and NGX 30 (+5.38%) while NGX Consumer goods (-0.15%) and NGX Insurance (-12.34%) were the laggards.
Analysis of today’s market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 5.06%.
A total of 890.68m shares valued at N7.36bn were exchanged in 3,566 deals. SOVERENINS (+0.00%) led the volume chart with 523.93m units traded, while PRESCO (+10.00%) led the value chart in deals worth N1.61bn.
Market breadth closed negative at a 1.07-to-1 ratio with declining issues outnumbering advancing ones. FIDSON (-8.16%) led fifteen (15) others on the laggard’s table, while PRESCO (+10.00%) topped fourteen (14) others on the gainer’s log.
Meanwhile, Adetiba, the founder of Kemi Adetiba Visuals and director of critically acclaimed movies “Wedding Party” and “King of Boys,” which was later adapted by Netflix, had the honour of closing the market for the year on the trading floor of the Exchange. During the ceremony, NGX CEO Temi Popoola spoke about the exchange’s impressive year, despite facing global macroeconomic challenges and volatility.
“It’s been a fantastic year for NGX, with a positive 19.98% return,” said Popoola. “We’ve also seen several landmark listings in equity and fixed income, including BUA Foods and Geregu Power, which have played a key role in driving growth in the market this year.”
Popoola went on to praise Adetiba for her exceptional contributions to the entertainment industry. “Kemi Adetiba has truly put Nigeria on the map with her incredible movie successes,” said Popoola. “We’re excited to explore partnerships with the entertainment industry to catalyse its growth and bring even more success to the country.”
At the global markets, as a turbulent year flawed by the Russia/Ukraine conflict, persistent COVID-19 restrictive measures in China, rising inflation, and tighter monetary policy come to an end, recession concerns remain the prevalent theme in global stock markets as investors assess major central banks’ lingering interest-rate moves.
Accordingly, US stocks (DJIA: +0.1%; S&P 500: +0.1%) edged marginally higher but were on track for annual losses as a slight reprieve in treasury yields and encouraging unemployment data drove bargain-hunting in growth stocks.
Likewise, European stocks (STOXX Europe: +0.3%; and FTSE 100: +0.2%) were on course to end the week with mild gains as sentiments were shaped by China’s reopening bets and global recession fears.
In Asian markets, weak sentiments dominated the Japanese equities (Nikkei 225: -0.5%) as investors evaluated headwinds for the global economy in 2023. On the contrary, the SSE (+1.4%) posted gains following optimism about China’s growth prospects amid the rollback of COVID-19 containment measures.
Elsewhere, the Emerging market (MSCI EM: +0.3%) closed higher, mirroring gains in China (+1.4%), while the Frontier market (MSCI FM: -0.6%) closed lower following bearish sentiments in the Vietnamese (-1.7%) market.
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