SAT. 25 FEB, 2023-theGBJournal| In the run up to the 2023 General Elections, the Nigeria equity market maintained it’s bullish run as it ended Friday’s session 0.55% stronger, bringing the All-Share Index to settle at 54,949.21 points, the highest level since 15 July 2008.
A total turnover of 799.848 million shares worth N29.354 billion in 14,194 deals was traded by investors during the week on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 751.990 million shares valued at N20.575 billion that exchanged hands last week in 15,822 deals.
According to NGX Exchange data, trading in the top three equities namely Geregu Power Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc and Zenith Bank Plc. (measured by volume) accounted for 307.755 million shares worth N17.489 billion in 2,325 deals, contributing 38.48% and 59.58% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The market was buoyed Friday by increased demand in industrial heavyweight, DANGCEM (+0.74%), alongside sustained gains in BUAFOODS (+6.17%) and ZENITHBANK (+1.58%). Having gained in four of five trading sessions this week, the ASI closed 2.13% higher w/w.
Over the course of the week, AIRTELAFRI (+3.85% w/w), DANGCEM (+0.74% w/w) and BUAFOODS (+15.59% w/w) recorded gains while MTNN (-0.20% w/w), WAPCO (-0.58% w/w) and FBNH (-0.43% w/w) dragged the index. Consequently, the year-to-date (YTD) return rose to 7.22%, while the market capitalization gained N623.60bn w/w to close at N29.93trn.
Analysis of today’s market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 35.47%. A total of 119.10m shares valued at N2.50bn were exchanged in 2,820 deals. GTCO (+0.79%) led the volume chart with 14.14m units traded while SEPLAT (+0.00%) led the value chart in deals worth N528.86m.
Market breadth closed positive at a 2.11-to-1 ratio with advancing issues outnumbering declining ones. CONOIL (+9.94%) topped eighteen others on the leader’s log while CORNERST (-7.69%) led eight others on the leader’s table.
Meanwhile, Interest rates concerns remained in the driver’s seat for the global equities markets this week as investors digested minutes of the Federal Reserve’s meeting and the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price (PCE) data for further Fed actions. Accordingly, US equities (DJIA: -2.0%; S&P 500: -1.6%) retreated as the focus remained on the Fed’s comments on interest-rate outlook. Similarly, European equities (STOXX Europe: -0.4%; FTSE 100: -1.2%) wavered as investors digested the latest Federal Reserve minutes and Eurozone inflation data (January 2023: -60bps to 8.6%).
Mixed sentiments dominated the Asian markets. Chinese equities (SSE: +1.3%) posted gains following mixed signals in corporate earnings from Chinese big tech companies (Alibaba and Techtronic), while the Japanese equities (Nikkei 225: -0.2%) declined, taking a cue from the selloffs on Wall Street.
Likewise, the Emerging (MSCI EM: -1.2%) and Frontier (MSCI FM: -1.2%) market indices mirrored the bearish sentiments across global equities consequent upon losses in South Korea (-1.1%) and Vietnam (-1.5%), respectively.
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