Equities market gains N695bn amid renewed interest in cheap shares

The equities market of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) appreciated the by N695billion in five days, amid investors’ interest in cheap shares.

For instance, the market capitalization crossed the N13trillion mark last week to N13.136 trillion from N12.441 trillion it opened for trading.

Also, the All-Share Index advanced by 5.6 per cent to settle at 25,204.75 basis points from 23,871.33 basis points, it opened for trading.

Thus, the Month-Till-Date return increased to 9.5 per cent, as the YTD loss moderated to -6.1per cent.

The equities market rallied last week, on the back of significant interests in banking stocks and market heavyweights such as BUA Cement that gained 23.4 per cent, MTN Nigeria that appreciated by five per cent and Dangote cement plc that rose by 4.5per cent.

Performance across all sectors was positive, reflecting the positive performance in the market.

The Industrial Goods Index gained 15.5 per cent to 1,168.75 basis points from 1,012.32 basis points to lead the chart, followed by the Banking Index that appreciated by 7.2 per cent to 302.77 basis points from 282.33 basis points.

Other gainers in the index include Oil and Gas rose by 4.9per cent to 229.09 basis points and Insurance index gained two per cent to 127.06 basis points from 124.54 basis points it opened during the week.

According to NSE weekly market report, “a total turnover of 1.718 billion shares worth N18.849 billion in 26,367 deals were traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 926.418 million shares valued at N9.768 billion that exchanged hands in prior weeks in 20,910 deals.

“The Financial Services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.273 billion shares valued at N11.362 billion traded in 13,808 deals; thus contributing 74.08 per cent and 60.28 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

“The Industrial Goods industry followed with 102.377 million shares worth N3.194 billion in 2,956 deals. The third place was the Healthcare industry, with a turnover of 99.620 million shares worth N493.348 million in 1,194 deals.

“Trading in the Top Three Equities namely Zenith Bank Plc, Access Bank and FBN Holdings Plc. (measured by volume) accounted for 673.104 million shares worth N6.803 billion in 5,927 deals, contributing 39.18 per cent and 36.09per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.”

The report noted that a total of 12,809 units valued at N13.170 million were traded last week in 18 deals and a total of 7,251 units valued at N42.007 million were traded last week in 15 deals.

“In our opinion, risks remain on the horizon due to a combination of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Nigeria and weak economic conditions.

“Thus, we continue to advise investors to trade cautiously and seek trading opportunities in only fundamentally justified stocks,” Cordros capital explained.