By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The all-share index (ASI) at the Nigerian stock exchange (NSE) Friday inched up 2.08 percent to close another bullish week at 39,831.83 basis point (BPS) as foreign participation incite rallies in the oil & gas, consumer goods and banking stocks.
Analysts at Cordros Capital say investors remained upbeat about equities and believed that the gains were driven mainly by foreign participation in local trades, as their inflows appear to have incited the above sector rallies.
Cordros recalls that foreign activities in equities had been bearish since the beginning of the year; hence, the renewed interest bodes well for the market.
‘’We also believe that portfolio reallocation away from fixed income instruments (where yields have compressed significantly YtD) ? judging by significant yield expansions in the latter part of the week? may have supported the demand for equities,’’ the Codros report said.
According to the report, the rally could also be linked to the news of the improved weighting of the Nigerian market in the MSCI frontier basket announced late last week.
Also in support of the rally at the Nigerian bourse is the outcome of the monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting (where the committee sprang no surprises), macroeconomic stability, as well as strong fundamental outlook for stocks in active sectors.
Similarly, the NSE in its weekly stock market report said market capitalisation appreciated 2.34% to close N13.152 trillion. While all the NSE indices appreciated during the week with the exception of the NSE industrial goods and NSE ASeM indices that closed flat.
The report shows that market breadth improved in the review week as a look at the summary of price changes shows that 42 equities appreciated in prices during the week higher than 37 the previous week. 33 equities depreciated in prices lower than 36 the past week, while 124 equities remained unchanged lower than 126 of the preceding week, the NSE reported.
Also, the NSE reported a turnover of 1.869 billion shares worth N23.917 billion in 23,554 deals traded this week by investors on the floor of its bourse compared to a total of 1.675 billion shares valued at N20.861 billion that exchanged hands last week in 24,513 deals.
It further reported that the financial services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.486 billion shares valued at N15.519 billion traded in 12,384 deals; thus contributing 79.53% and 64.89% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
In terms of turnover, the conglomerates industry followed with 109.647 million shares worth N607.628 million in 1,230 deals. While in the third place is the services industry with 81.708 million shares worth N228.740 million in 857 deals.
The NSE said trading in top three (3) equities namely- Wapic Insurance Plc, Zenith International Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. (measured by volume) accounted for 815.138 million shares worth N11.613 billion in 3,151 deals, contributing 43.62% and 48.56% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
