Equities investors ignored the violence and unrest in the country last week to increase their patronage of the market as they positioned ahead of the release of third (Q3) earnings by quoted companies.
Consequently, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index rose 0.13 per cent to close higher at 28,697.06.
The market recorded gains in three out of the five trading days, lifting the equities capitalisation by N19.7 billion to close at N14.999 trillion, against the expectations that the tensed security situation that led to the imposition of curfew by some states, would dampen investors’ demand.
Although the NSE ASI appreciated, the value and volume of trades fell 14.4 per cent and 23 per cent in that order.
In fact, Wednesday’s sell-offs led to a decline of 0.8 per cent , which was the biggest loss since October 7, 2020. But bargain hunting on Thursday (+0.4 per cent) and Friday (+0.5 per cent) completely wiped off the losses and pushed the market into the green.
Commenting on the stock market performance, analysts at said despite the heat in the socio-political landscape triggered by the degeneration of the #Endsars protests, they did not expect a material dent to investors’ appetite for stocks.
“We reiterate that pent up system liquidity and the hunt for alpha-yielding opportunities in the face of increasingly negative real returns in the fixed income market remain positive for stocks. However, we advise investors to trade in only fundamentally justified stocks as the weak macro environment remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings,” analysts at Cordros Research said.
Meanwhile, investors traded a total of 1.505 billion shares worth N19.668 billion in 20,552 deals, compared with 1.955 billion shares valued at N22.978 billion that exchanged hands last week in 22,844 deals.
The Financial Services industry led the activity chart with 1.196 billion shares valued at N14.950 billion traded in 11,318 deals, contributing 79.4 per cent and 76 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Conglomerates industry followed with 97.167 million shares worth N269.045 million in 516 deals. The third place was the Consumer Goods, with a turnover of 77.588 million shares worth N1.928 billion in 3,461 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc and United Bank for Africa Plc accounted for 633.527 million shares worth N10.006 billion in 3,887 deals.
The price movement chart showed that 28 equities appreciated lower than 35 equities in the previous week, while 35 equities depreciated in price, higher than 23 equities in the previous week.
International Breweries Plc led the price gainers with 18.2 per cent, trailed by Cutix Plc with 17.2 per cent. NASCON Allied Industries Plc and Japaul chalked up 10 apiece. Ikeja Hotel Plc gained 9.9 per cent, just as Conoil Plc appreciated by 9.7 per cent. Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc gained 6.4 per cent. Livestock Feeds and Fidson Healthcare Plc garnered 6.3 per cent and 6.2 per cent respectively.
Conversely, Northern Nigerian Flour Mills Plc led the price losers with 9.8 per cent, trailed by Linkage Assurance Plc with 9.0 per cent. Eterna Plc shed 8.9 per cent, just as Regency Assurance Plc depreciated by 8.30 per cent.
Other top price losers included: Royal Exchange Plc (8.0 per cent); May & Baker Nigeria Plc (7.6 per cent); LASACO Assurance Plc (7.1 per cent); Academy Press Plc ( 6.9 per cent); Cadbury Nigeria Plc (6.8 per cent) and Honeywell Flour Mills Plc (6.1 per cent).
