SAT. 14 JANUARY, 2023-theGBJournal| Ending an almost perfect week, Nigerian equities closed Friday 0.89% stronger, bringing the NGX All-Share Index to settle at 52,512.48 points, the highest point since 15 June 2022.
Trading in the top three equities namely FBN Holdings Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, and Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 507.852 million shares worth N5.707 billion in 2,585 deals, contributing 39.50% and 19.26% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively, according to the NGX Exchange.
The market was buoyed by sustained gains in telco heavyweight, MTNN (+4.50%), alongside ZENITHBANK (+1.79%) and WAPCO (+1.81%).
Having gained in four (4) of five (5) trading sessions this week, the ASI closed 2.52% higher w/w, it’s first weekly gain in the year.
Over the course of the week, DANGCEM (+3.05% w/w), MTNN (+6.93% w/w) and BUACEMENT (+3.59% w/w) were the main drivers of the week’s gain. Consequently, the year-to-date (YTD) return rose to 2.46%, while the market capitalization gained N702.71bn w/w to close at N28.60trn.
Analysis of Friday’s market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session with the value of transactions down by 66.96%.
A total of 217.16m shares valued at N2.55bn were exchanged in 4,591 deals.
ZENITHBANK (+1.79%) led the volume and value chart with 20.31m units traded in deals worth N517.74m.
Market breadth closed positive at a 4.14-to-1 ratio with advancing issues outnumbering declining ones.
TOTAL (+10.00%) led twenty-eight others on the gainer’s table while FIDSON (-4.60%) topped six others on the laggard’s log.
Meanwhile, unlike in the prior week, positive sentiments dominated the global equities market as investors weighed the prospects of less aggressive rate hikes from the Federal Reserve amid signs of easing inflationary pressures in the US.
Accordingly, US stocks (DJIA: +1.7%; S&P 500: +2.3%) rebounded from the losses recorded in the prior week as investors digested CPI data for December and quarterly corporate earnings reports from big banks.
Likewise, European stocks (STOXX Europe: +1.3%; FTSE 100: +1.2%) were on course for their second weekly gain as investors evaluated a slew of economic data (UK GDP data for November and US inflation data).
In the same vein, Asian markets (Nikkei 225: +0.6%; SSE: +1.2%) closed positively as risk sentiments were strengthened by (1) positive sentiments on Wall Street and (2) optimism about China’s economic recovery following the reopening of its international borders.
Similarly, the Emerging market (MSCI EM: +3.0%) and Frontier market (MSCI FM: +2.1%) indices were buoyed by positive sentiments in the Chinese (+1.2%) and Vietnamese (+0.8%) markets, respectively.
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