NSE Roundup! Equities in month-end rally with N73b gain

Quoted equities staged a month-end rally last week as investors sought to rebalance their portfolios as companies provided glimpses of their earnings outlooks with mixed first quarter earnings. Key indices showed that the stock market was on the upbeat, although the underlying sentiments remained weak.

The All Share Index (ASI)- the value-based index that tracks prices of all quoted equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), appreciated by 0.85 per cent, equivalent to a week-on-week gain of N73 billion. The ASI closed the week at 25,062.41 points as against the opening index of 24,850.11 points.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities improved from the week’s opening value of N8.548 trillion to close at N8.621 trillion. The market performance was boosted by gains recorded several highly capitalised stocks. There were 33 gainers for the week as against 35 losers while 121 stocks closed flat.

Sectoral indices showed mixed performance with the rallies in the banking and consumer goods sectors counterbalanced by depreciations in the oil and gas and industrial goods sectors. The NSE 30 Index, which tracks the 30 most capitalised companies on the Exchange, recorded a weekly return of 0.54 per cent. The NSE Banking Index appreciated by 3.26 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index rallied 4.22 per cent. The NSE Pension Index rose by 0.88 per cent while the NSE Premium Index, which tracks the trio of Zenith Bank, Dangote Cement and FBN Holdings, appreciated by 2.08 per cent during the week.

Read Also : NSE RoundUp! Equities in cautious optimism amidst global rally

However, the NSE Insurance Index, NSE Oil and Gas Index, NSE Lotus Index and the NSE Industrial Goods Index declined by 0.28 per cent, 9.69 per cent, 0.85 per cent and 2.03 per cent respectively.

Eterna recorded the highest gain, in percentage terms, of 17.95 per cent to close at N2.30. AG Leventis Nigeria followed with a gain of 14.63 per cent to close at 94 kobo. United Capital appreciated by 11.49 per cent to close at N1.65. Honeywell Flour Mills rose by 11.43 per cent to close at N1.56 while Wema Bank appreciated by 11.11 per cent to close at 80 kobo per share.

The momentums of activities improved last week with a total turnover of 1.210 billion shares worth N7.115 billion in 15,973 deals as against a total of 885.367 million shares valued at N5.829 billion that exchanged hands in 13,870 deals two weeks ago. The financial services sector led the activity chart with 1.053 billion shares valued at N4.618 billion in 9,640 deals; representing 87.01 per cent and 64.90 per cent of the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The conglomerates sector staged a distant second with 54.319 million shares worth N71.287 million in 564 deals. The consumer goods sector placed third with a turnover of 39.421 million shares worth N1.420 billion in 2,855 deals.

The three most active stocks were FBN Holdings Plc, Access Bank Plc and United Bank For Africa Plc, which jointly accounted for 654.258 million shares worth N2.413 billion in 3,965 deals, representing 54.08 per cent and 33.92 per cent of the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Also traded during the week were a total of 12,490 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) valued at N503,694 in 28 deals, compared with a total of 4,511 units valued at N1.401 million traded in 38 deals penultimate week.

Besides, a total of 8,990 units of Federal Government Bonds valued at N10.108 million were traded in four deals compared to a total of 3,241 units of Federal Government and Corporate Bonds valued at N3.579 million traded four deals in the previous week.

On the downside, Forte Oil continued its weight shedding with a loss of 22.09 per cent to close at N214.35. Airlines Services and Logistics followed with a loss of 18.78 per cent to close at N1.47. UACN Property Development Company dropped by 13.48 per cent to close at N3.85. Livestock Feeds declined by 10.99 per cent to close at 81 kobo while GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria lost 9.69 per cent to close at N22.55 per share.

Across the global stock markets, it was largely a negative market. In United States of America, NASDAQ and S&P 500 fell by 2.1 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively. In United Kingdom, the FTSE Index declined by 0.4 per cent. Also, France’s CAC Index dropped by 2.0 per cent while German’s DAX Index fell by 1.9 per cent.

In the Asian markets, the Japan Nikkei dropped by 5.2 per cent. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index equally declined by 1.9 per cent. In the emerging markets bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), India BSE Index dropped by 0.9 per cent. The Chinese Shanghai Composite Index slipped by 0.7 per cent while South African FTSE Index closed flat. However, the Russia’s RTS Index recorded a gain of 2.3 per cent while Brazil Ibovespa Index rose by 2.7 per cent.

In Africa, most markets closed in the red. The Ghana GSE Index indicated a drop of 0.8 per cent. The Kenya NSE Index slipped by 0.5 per cent while Egypt’s EGX Index dropped by 0.3 per cent.

As trading resumes for the new month of May on Tuesday, analysts remained cautious of the outlook for the Nigerian equities. Analysts at Afrinvest Securities attributed the month-end rally last week to “investors’ reactions to corporate scorecards as well as dynamics of profit taking and bargain hunting activities”.

“We do not expect any significant improvement in performance in the coming month as there are no major drivers to stoke investor sentiments for equities,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

 

 

 

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