Investors in the Nigerian equities market are enjoying a favourable investment climate as year-to-date return increased to 39.95 percent at the end of trading on Friday as banking stocks boosted the market capitalization to N59.18 trillion.
The local stock market wrapped up the week on a positive note, with the ASI showing a 25 basis points day-on-day surge. However, it experienced a decline of 42 basis points week-on-week, closing at 104,647.37 points.
Noteworthy in Friday’s session were the banking stocks such as GTCO (+3.81%), FBNH (+2.25%), ZENITHBANK (+1.27%), and ACCESSCORP (+1.69%), which offset the decline in NB (-3.45%).
Furthermore, the year-to-date return settled at 39.95%, with market capitalization closing at N59.18 trillion compared to N59.03 trillion the previous day. Market breadth concluded positively at 1.53 xs, with 49 advancers surpassing 32 decliners.
Analysis of trade metrics revealed significant increases week-on-week, with volume and value traded up by 132.58 percent and 184.37 percent, respectively, reaching 505.19 million units and N14.24 billion.
FBNH led the value chart for the week at N7.48 billion, followed by GTCO at N6.47 billion and TRANSPOWER at N5.97 billion. UBA led the top equities by volume for the week with 209.44 million units, followed by FBNH at 187.18 million units and ACCESSCORP at 168.26 million units.
A total turnover of 1.735 billion shares worth N48.755 billion in 45,237 deals was traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.773 billion shares valued at N52.867 billion that exchanged hands last week in 44,713 deals.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.273 billion shares valued at N31.077 billion traded in 23,066 deals; thus contributing 73.36% and 63.74% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Conglomerates Industry followed with 123.237 million shares worth N1.772 billion in 3,205 deals. The third place was the Consumer Goods Industry, with a turnover of 104.854 million shares worth N5.292 billion in 6,166 deals.
Similarly, all other indices finished lower with the exception of NGX Main Board, NGX CG, NGX Banking, NGX Pension, NGX Insurance, NGX ASeM, NGX AFR Bank Value, NGX MERI Growth, NGX Oil and Gas and NGX Industrial Goods which appreciated by 0.68 percent, 0.43 percent, 4.19 percent, 0.13 percent, 8.92 percent, 21.81 percent, 3.93 percent, 4.13 percent, 0.30 percent and 0.57 percent respectively while the NGX Sovereign Bond index closed flat.
Positive sentiments dominated global equities in the review week following the outcome of the Federal Reserve policy meeting, as investors found solace in the news that policymakers are still considering rate cuts this year.
Consequently, upbeat sentiments dominated US equities (DJIA: +2.8%; S&P 500: +2.4%) on the back of the US Fed’s rate decision and forecast for imminent rate cuts.
Similarly, European equities (STOXX Europe: +1.0%; FTSE 100: +2.0%) were headed for another weekly gain as investors cheered dovish comments from the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England and a surprise interest rate cut by the Swiss National Bank.
Meanwhile, in Asia (Nikkei 225: +5.6%; SSE: -0.2%), the Japanese market rallied following the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and the Federal Reserve policy announcements which spurred investors’ appetite for risk assets. Additionally, the Japanese yen’s ongoing depreciation against the US dollar, coupled with Japan’s exit from deflation, further supported risk sentiments.
Conversely, bearish sentiments prevailed in the Chinese market due to disappointing earnings from bellwether companies coupled with a lack of positive economic cues. Elsewhere, bullish sentiments in India (+0.3%) and Taiwan (+2.8%) drove the Emerging market (MSCI EM: +1.3%) index higher. The Frontier markets (MSCI FM: +1.1%) index also saw gains, supported by positive performances in Vietnam (+1.4%) and Romania (+2.2%).
