SAT, NOV 18 2023-theGBJournal|Nigerian equities market closed higher Friday sustaining the gains witnessed all through the week in the market.
The All-Share Index closed 0.4% w/w higher to 71,112.99 points, will all other indices finishing higher with the exception of NGX Main Board, NGX Banking, NGX Industrial Goods and NGX Sovereign Bond which depreciated by 0.11%, 0.04%, 1.18% and 0.27% respectively while the NGX ASeM index closed flat.
Investors showed sustained interest in bellwether stocks – MTNN (+2.9%), SEPLAT (+7.4%) and AIRTELAFRI (+1.1%),
Cnsequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns rose to +0.4% and +38.8%, respectively.
However, trading activity weakened, with total traded volume and value decreasing by 19.9% w/w and 39.0% w/w, respectively.
Trading in the top three equities namely Japual Gold and Venture Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc and Jaiz Bank Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 488.181 million shares worth N1.967 billion in 3,136 deals, contributing 24.11% and 7.10% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Sectoral performance was mixed, with gains observed in the Oil and Gas (+2.6%), Insurance (+0.9%) and Consumer Goods (+0.2%) indices and a decline in the Industrial Goods (-1.2%) index. The Banking index remained unchanged.
Investors will closely monitor the results of the upcoming MPC meeting next week to gain further clarity on the movement of yields in the FI market. As a result, cautious trading is anticipated on the local bourse.
Meanwhile, while this week’s focus in global stock markets remains on quarterly corporate earnings announcements, hopes for an end to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate increases aided sentiments amid encouraging economic (consumer and producer prices) data.
As of the time of writing, US equities (DJIA: +1.9%; S&P 500: +2.1%) posted gains, driven by signs of cooling inflation, which generated optimism about a potential shift in the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy.
Likewise, European equities (STOXX Europe: +1.8%; FTSE 100: +0.7%) built on last week’s gains, fueled by expectations that the major central banks may have reached the end of their monetary policy tightening cycles.
Similarly, Asian markets (Nikkei 225: +3.1%; SSE: +0.4%) advanced, mirroring Wall Street’s gains amid optimism over the solid corporate earnings in Japan.
Emerging market (MSCI EM: +3.6%) and Frontier market (MSCI FM: +2.0%) indices closed higher, driven by positive sentiments, in China (+0.4%) and Vietnam (+0.5%), respectively.
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