SAT, JULY 22 2023-theGBJournal |The NGX All-Share Index Friday closed 1.68% stronger to settle at 65,003.39 points as investors digested a raft of H1-23 earnings.
Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NGX ASeM which depreciated by 0.07%.
Gains in Tier-1 banks, ZENITHBANK (+8.82%), GTCO (+14.2%) and STANBIC (+10.00%) drove the market’s strong performance, and having gained in four of five trading sessions this week, the ASI closed 3.89% higher w/w, pushing the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns to +6.6% and 26.8%, respectively.
Also observed is the strong buying interest in DANGCEM (+5.1%), following the conclusion of its share buyback programme and increased appetite for Tier-1 Banking names — FBNH (+25.6%), and ACCESSCORP (+22.7%) — on the final trading session.
Trading in the top three equities namely United Bank for Africa, FCMB Group Plc and Japaul Gold & Ventures Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 1.727 billion shares worth N18.239 billion in 4,707 deals, contributing 41.29% and 18.41% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Overall, a total turnover of 4.182 billion shares worth N99.048 billion in 41,446 deals was traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 5.246 billion shares valued at N63.417 billion that exchanged hands last week in 57,234 deals.
Seventy-three equities appreciated in price during the week higher than twenty-nine equities in the previous week.
Nineteen equities depreciated in price lower than
seventy-seven in the previous week, while sixty-four equities remained unchanged, higher than fifty recorded in the previous week.
Looking ahead, we expect the full swing of the H1-23 earnings season to dictate market sentiments and possibly drive positive performance as investors hunt for bargains in fundamentally sound stocks with a consistent history of interim dividend payments.
In addition, we believe investors will closely watch the outcome of the MPC meeting scheduled to hold next week to gain further clarity on the movement of yields in the FI market.
Meanwhile, whilst quarterly corporate earnings announcements remain the major theme in the global equities market this week, hopes for an end to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate increases aided sentiments amid encouraging economic data.
As of the time of writing, US equities (DJIA: +2.1%; S&P 500: +0.7%) posted gains following positive reactions to better-than-expected Q2 earnings from some big banks like Bank of America and Morgan Stanley.
Likewise, European equities (STOXX Europe: +0.7%; FTSE 100: +2.8%) were on track for a weekly gain as investors digested softer-than-expected UK inflation data. On the other hand, Asian markets — Japanese (Nikkei 225: -0.3%) and Chinese (SSE: -2.3%) equities – came under pressure following worries about the Chinese economy and weakness in technology stocks.
Elsewhere, the Emerging (MSCI EM: -0.1%) market index declined following the loss in China (-2.3%) while the Frontier (MSCI FM: +0.3%) market index advanced, supported by positive sentiments in Vietnam (+0.5%).
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