SAT, AUGUST 05 2023-theGBJournal |The Nigerian equities market edged higher this week as investors’ interest in MTNN (+1.8%) drove the All-Share Index higher by 0.2% w/w to 65,198.08 points.
All other indices finished higher with the exception of NGX Main Board, NGX CG, NGX Banking, NGX AFR Bank Value, NGX MERI Growth, NGX MERI Value and NGX Oil and Gas indices which depreciated by 0.07%, 0.06% 2.13%, 1.85%, 2.43%, 0.78%, and 0.68% respectively while the NGX ASeM index closed flat.
Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns printed +1.6% and +27.2%, respectively.
Elsewhere, activity levels remained weak as the trading volume and value declined by 9.8% w/w and 21.3% w/w, respectively. Over all, a total turnover of 2.575 billion shares worth N29.615 billion in 37,713 deals was traded by investors, in contrast to a total of 2.854 billion shares valued at N37.645 billion that exchanged hands last week in 41,547 deals.
Meanwhile, sectoral performance was mixed, as the Insurance (+5.9%), Consumer Goods (+2.3%), and Industrial Goods (+0.2%) indices recorded gains, while the Banking (-2.1%) and Oil and Gas (-0.7%) indices declined.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.921 billion shares valued at N16.514 billion traded in 17,689 deals; thus contributing 74.60% and 55.76% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Conglomerates Industry followed with 160.206 million shares worth N625.021 million in 1,811 deals. The third place was the Oil and Gas Industry, with a turnover of 152.046 million shares worth N1.332 billion in 2,403 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely AIICO Insurance Plc, FCMB Group Plc and Transnational Corporation Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 636.217 million shares worth N1.737 billion in 2,751 deals, contributing 24.71% and 5.86% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Forty-two equities appreciated in price during the week higher than thirty-nine equities in the previous week. Fifty-two equities depreciated in price lower than fifty four in the previous week, while sixty-one equities remained unchanged, lower than sixty-two recorded in the previous week.
Meanwhile global stock markets posted broadly negative performances due to concerns over the potential economic effects of a credit rating downgrade for the US.
Accordingly, US equities (DJIA: -0.7%; S&P 500: -1.8%) were on track for a weekly loss, as of the time of this report, as rising Treasury yields, triggered by Fitch Ratings’ downgrade of the US credit grade (from AAA to AA+), added to risk-off sentiments.
Likewise, negative sentiments dominated European equities (STOXX Europe: -2.7%; FTSE 100: -2.1%) after the Bank of England hiked its key interest rate (+25bps to 5.25%) for the fourteenth consecutive time.
Asian markets posted mixed performances, as Japanese equities (Nikkei 225: -1.9%) closed lower while Chinese equities (SSE: +0.8%) consolidated on the prior week’s gain.
We note that the sentiments on Wall Street triggered the selloffs in Japan; however, the impact on the Chinese market was neutered by China’s central bank’s pledges to provide additional support for the private sector.
Elsewhere, the Emerging (MSCI EM: -2.6%) and Frontier (MSCI FM: -0.4%) market indices declined following bearish sentiments in Bahrain (-0.5%) and Taiwan (-2.6%), respectively
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