NSE Roundup! Equities in cautious trades amidst dividend expectations

Nigerian equities traded last week within the topsy-turvy mix of profit-taking and bargain-hunting trading as concerns over macroeconomic position weighed in on expected increase in the release of audited reports and possible dividend recommendations. With three successive negative closing, the stock market picked up in the last two trading sessions of the week. The latter-day recovery moderated the week-on-week performance to a loss of N67 billion or 0.83 per cent.

Read also: More quoted companies continued to trade on the downside while the largest group of stocks remained stunted at same price.

The momentum of activities was spurred by the cross deal for the transfer of majority equity holding in Tiger Branded Consumer Goods Plc from South Africa’s Tiger Brands to Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s Dangote Industries Limited (DIL).

The benchmark index for the Nigerian stock market, the All Share Index (ASI)-a value-based common-share index that tracks prices of all quoted equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), closed the week at 24,228.79 points, 0.83 per cent lower than its week’s opening value of 24,432.51 points. With this, the negative average year-to-date return inched up to -15.41 per cent.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also dropped from the week’s opening value of N8.403 trillion to close the week at N8.336 trillion, representing a loss of N67 billion in earned capital gains. The market situation was still overshadowed by negative sentiments as weak earnings prospects by some major companies, especially in the banking sector, compounded the adverse impact of the foreign exchange crisis on the stock market.

Sectoral analysis showed mixed performance across the sectors. The NSE Premium Index, NSE 30 Index, NSE Banking Index, NSE Insurance Index and NSE Pension Index depreciated by 0.83%, 3.01%, 0.35%, 2.45%, 1.25% and 1.25% respectively. On the other hand, the NSE Main Board Index, NSE Industrial Goods Index, NSE Consumer Goods Index, NSE Oil and Gas Index, NSE Lotus Islamic Index and NSE ASeM Index appreciated by 0.30%, 0.45%, 0.88%, 2.38%, 0.62% and 0.17% respectively. These underlined the fact that the negative market situation was driven primarily by highly capitalised stocks, especially in the most active banking sector.

A total of 21 stocks appreciated in price during the week, lower than 22 equities of the previous week. Also, 35 equities depreciated in price, lower than 37 equities of the previous week. A total of 134 equities remained unchanged last week as against 131 equities recorded in the previous week.

Livestock Feeds recorded the highest percentage loss of 12.98 per cent to close at N1.14. It was followed by Diamond Bank, which dropped by 12.26 per cent to close at N1.36 while Skye Bank declined by 10.19 per cent to close at 97 kobo.

On the positive side, Seplat Petroleum Development Company led the advancers with a gain of 12.40 per cent to close at N340. Unity Bank followed with a gain of 11.67 to close at 67 kobo while Learn Africa rose by 11.11 per cent to close at 90 kobo.

A turnover of 4.476 billion shares worth N11.742 billion in 14,124 deals were traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange in contrast to a total of 1.202 billion shares valued at N9.641 billion that exchanged hands last week in 13,712 deals.

With the cross deal on Tiger Branded Consumer Goods Plc, the consumer goods industry led the activity chart with 3.331 billion shares valued at N5.695 billion traded in 2,511 deals; thus contributing 74.42% and 48.50% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The financial services industry followed with 1.008 billion shares worth N3.752 billion in 8,730 deals. The third place was occupied by the oil and gas industry with a turnover of 55.332 million shares worth N416.383 million in 1,024 deals.

The Trio of Tiger Branded Consumer Goods Plc, FCMB Group Plc and FBN Holdings Plc were the most active in that order and jointly accounted for 3.736 billion shares worth N4.872 billion in 2,443 deals, contributing 83.47% and 41.49% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Also traded during the week were a total of 14,844 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) valued at N14.134 million executed in 29 deals, compared with a total of 93,518 units valued at N1.158million transacted last week in 48 deals.

A total of 4,990 units of Federal Government Bonds valued at N5.799 million were traded in 2 deals compared to a total of 150,000 units of Federal Government Bonds valued at N169.326 million transacted last week in 2 deals.

“In the absence of fundamental fiscal and monetary policy directions coupled with volatility in macroeconomic indices, we expect investors’ sentiments towards equities to remain weak. However, as next week (this week) ushers’ in a period of corporate earnings releases, we expect to see increased positioning in blue chips with rich historical dividend payment,” Afrinvest Securities-a Lagos-based dealer on the NSE, stated in a weekend preview.

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