SAT, MAR 16 2024-theGBJournal| The Nigerian equities market extended last week’s gains as strong buying interests in MTNN (+21.0%) and Tier-1 Banking stocks drove the All-Share Index higher by 3.7% w/w to close at 105,085.25 points.
Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NGX Oil and Gas and NGX
Sovereign Bond which depreciated by 0.11% and 3.12% respectively.
Over the course of the week, strong performances in MTNN (+20.96% w/w), TRANSPOWER (+8.17% w/w) , and GTCO (+17.88% w/w) drove the market’s positive performance, outweighing losses in TRANSCOHOT (-3.07% w/w), TRANSCORP (-8.82% w/w), and OANDO (-4.17% w/w).
Consequently, the year-to-date (YTD) return rose to 40.54%, while the market capitalization gained N2.12 trillion w/w to close at N59.42 trillion.
Trading in the top three equities namely Transnational Corporation Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc and Access Holdings Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 677.439 million shares worth N17.287 billion in 7,789 deals, contributing 38.21% and 32.70% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
We expect investors to continue to cherry-pick fundamentally sound stocks, given the absence of any significant positive catalysts. However, the awaited earnings releases from the banks and accompanying dividend declarations may catalyse another rush of positive sentiments, supporting buying activities on the bourse.
Meanhile, Global stocks posted mixed performances as investors digested the higher-than-anticipated US inflation print and the latest producer price index (PPI) data for further clues on the path of the Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.
As of the time of writing, US equities (DJIA: +0.5%; S&P 500: +0.5%) were on track to close higher as investors turned their focus to a fresh batch of corporate earnings despite the latest inflation reading.
Likewise, European equities (STOXX Europe: +0.6%; FTSE 100: +1.1%) rebounded from last week’s losses in response to a softer-than-expected UK employment report, which fueled expectation for interest rate cuts from the Bank of England later this year.
Elsewhere, in Asia (Nikkei 225: -2.5%; SSE: +0.3%), the Japanese market was weighed down by losses on semi-conductor linked shares amid increasing speculation that the Bank of Japan might end its negative interest rate cycle.
Conversely, the Chinese market posted a marginal gain following signs of a demand pickup in the economy and hopes of share buy-backs from listed companies. Lastly, the Emerging market (MSCI EM: +1.1%) and Frontier market (MSCI FM: +0.6%) indices posted gains driven by positive sentiments in China (+0.3%) and Vietnam (+1.1%), respectively.
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