…Activity levels however were stronger than the previous week, with total trading volume and value increasing by 22.4% w/w and 173.5% w/w, respectively
…From a sectoral perspective, the Banking (-2.1%), Insurance (-0.4%), and Consumer Goods (-0.1%) indices declined while the Oil and Gas (+1.4%) index advanced
SAT JULY 13 2024-theGBJournal| The Nigerian equities market opened the week on a negative footing and maintained the same momentum throughout the week, except for the last trading session, due to a lack of positive triggers to spur strong buying interest.
Mainly, sell pressures on GTCO (-3.9%), TRANSCORP (-1.0%), SEPLAT (-1.7%) and UBA (-4.0%) drove the All-Share Index lower by 0.4% w/w resulting in Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns of -0.3% and +33.3%, respectively.
Market capitalization dipped by N0.150 trillion to N56.440 trillion while the weekly market breadth was 0.92x, with 37 stocks declining and 34 advancing.
Activity levels however were stronger than the previous week, with total trading volume and value increasing by 22.4% w/w and 173.5% w/w, respectively.
From a sectoral perspective, the Banking (-2.1%), Insurance (-0.4%), and Consumer Goods (-0.1%) indices declined while the Oil and Gas (+1.4%) index advanced. The Industrial Goods index closed flat.
As the half-year earnings season approaches, we believe investors will look for signs of improvement following the broadly lacklustre Q1-24 corporate earnings.
We expect mixed market performance in the coming week, with bargain-hunting balanced by intermittent profit-taking activities.
Meanwhile, Sentiments in the global equities market remained upbeat, as cooling US inflation bolstered expectations for an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve at its September meeting.
Accordingly, US equities (DJIA: +1.0%; S&P 500: +0.3%) were on track for a weekly gain as expectations for upcoming interest rate cuts gained momentum. This was fueled by remarks from the Federal Reserve Chairman, who indicated that the central bank would consider cutting rates before inflation reached the 2.0% target.
Likewise, European equities (STOXX Europe: +0.6%; FTSE 100: +0.2%) remained in the positive territory, supported by (1) a stronger pound, (2) optimistic corporate earnings forecasts, and (3) growing bets for a September rate cut by the US Federal Reserve.
Asian markets (Nikkei 225: +0.7%; SSE: +0.8%) were broadly positive, benefiting from the upbeat sentiment on Wall Street, expectations of strong corporate earnings, and better-than-expected export data from China.
Lastly, gains in China (+0.8%) and India (+0.6%) drove the Emerging Markets index (MSCI EM: +1.8%) higher, while the Frontier Markets index (MSCI FM: +0.5%) was driven by positive performances in Vietnam (+0.1%) and Romania (+0.4%).
X-@theGBJournal|Facebook-the Government and Business Journal|email:gbj@govbusinessjournal.com|govandbusinessj@gmail.com
