SAT, OCT 14 2023-theGBJournal| Nigerian equities ended the week on a positive note, as the All-Share index closed 0.10% higher to settle at 67,200.69 points.
Gains in ACCESSCORP (+0.63%), UBA (+0.29%) and DANGSUGAR (+4.66%) pushed the broader index into the positive terrain. Having gained in four of five trading sessions this week, the ASI closed 1.12% higher w/w, its second consecutive weekly growth.
During the week, positive performances across BUACEMENT (+12.55% w/w), NB (+9.09% w/w) and UBA (+2.03% w/w) outweighed the declines in GTCO (-3.74% w/w), ACCESSCORP (-1.25% w/w) and FBNH (-0.62% w/w).
Accordingly, the year-to-date (YTD) return rose to 31.12%, while the market capitalization gained N409.91bn w/w to close at N36.92trn.
Analysis of Friday’s market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 8.37%. A total of 224.07m shares valued at N4.16bn were exchanged in 5,049 deals. UBA (+0.29%) led the volume chart with 48.23m units traded while GTCO (+0.00%) led the value chart in deals worth N1.14bn.
Market breadth closed positive at a 1.10-to-1 ratio with advancing issues outnumbering declining ones. UPL (+9.77%) led ten (10) others on the leader’s log while FTNCOCOA (-4.65%) topped nine (9) others on the laggard’s table.
At the global markets, despite heightened geopolitical concerns, global stocks were broadly positive this week following lower bond yields, hints from US Fed officials suggesting a potential peak in interest rates, and (3) encouraging earnings reports from major US banks.
In line with this, US equities (DJIA: 0.7%; S&P 500: +1.0%) posted positive performances as investors reacted positively to earnings results from major banks. Likewise, European equities (STOXX Europe: +1.5%; FTSE 100: +1.8%) were on track for a weekly gain, riding the wave of positive global momentum despite lingering growth concerns.
Mixed sentiments dominated Asian markets, as Japanese equities (Nikkei 225: +4.3%) rallied following buying interests in chip-related stocks that fell in recent selloffs. Conversely, Chinese equities (SSE: -0.7%) declined as optimism waned due to lower-than-expected producer and consumer prices in China.
In other regions, Emerging (MSCI EM: +3.5%) and Frontier (MSCI FM: +1.3%) market indices concluded the week on a positive note, driven by bullish sentiments in Taiwan (+1.6%) and Vietnam (+2.3%), respectively.
In the week ahead, we believe investors will be reluctant to leave gains in the market.
As such, we expect intermittent profit-taking to persist. However, we expect this to be tempered by bargain-hunting activities as investors position themselves ahead of the upcoming Q3-23 earnings season.
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