SAT. 04 MARCH 2023-theGBJournal | The NGX Exchange succumbed to sell pressure Friday as the benchmark Index, the All-Share Index fell by 0.25% to close at 55,529.21 points.
Selloffs in SEPLAT (-9.43%) and GTCO (-0.75%) drove the market’s weak performance. Having gained in three of five trading sessions this week, the ASI closed 1.06% higher w/w.
A total turnover of 1.910 billion shares worth N18.436 billion in 20,311 deals was traded in the week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 799.848 million shares valued at N29.354 billion that exchanged hands last week in 14,194 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Chams Holding Company Plc, Capital Hotels Plc and Transnational Corporation Plc. (measured by volume) accounted for 1.038 billion shares worth N2.621 billion in 769 deals, contributing 54.33% and 14.22% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Bullish sentiments in BUAFOODS (+10.47% w/w), ZENITHBANK (+3.30% w/w), GTCO (+3.92% w/w) and WAPCO (+5.47% w/w) in the course of the week were significant enough to push the market’s performance into the green despite the rout in AIRTELAFRI (-4.40% w/w), and SEPLAT (-9.43% w/w).
As a result, the ASI’s year-to-date (YTD) return rose to 8.35%, while the market capitalization gained N315.96bn w/w to close at N30.25trn.
Analysis of today’s market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 18.31%. A total of 750.79m shares valued at N2.66bn were exchanged in 3,962 deals. CHAMS (-3.85%) led the volume chart with 571.07m units traded while ZENITHBANK (+0.76%) led the value chart in deals worth N461.81m.
Market breadth closed positive at a 1.08-to-1 ratio with advancing issues outnumbering declining ones. NEIMETH (+8.97%) topped thirteen (13) others on the leader’s log while SEPLAT (-9.43%) led twelve (12) others on the laggard’s table.
Meanwhile, Global stocks pared back early losses to finish the week higher as dovish remarks eased worries that the US Fed could be forced to revert to more aggressive rate hikes following strong economic data.
In line with this, US equities (DJIA: +0.6%; S&P 500: +0.3%) were on track for a weekly gain as investors cheered dovish comments from Atlanta Federal Reserve President, Raphael Bostic who favoured a “slow and steady” course of action for the Fed.
Similarly, hopes of a less hawkish Fed and signs of demand recovery in China drove European equities (STOXX Europe: +0.5%; FTSE 100: +0.8%) higher.
Likewise, Asian markets – Japan (Nikkei 225: +1.7%) and China (SSE: +1.9%) – received a shot of optimism from the latest data out of China (Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ index), which pointed to a robust recovery in the Chinese economy. In the same vein, the Emerging (MSCI EM: +2.5%) and Frontier (MSCI FM: +1.8%) market indices closed higher following bullish sentiments in China (+1.9%) and Nigeria (+1.3%), respectively.
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