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By Chinwendu Obienyi and Chukwuma Umeorah
With the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting set to kickoff today, analysts believe investor’ appetite for stocks would be dampened throughout the trading sessions on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).
This is coming after the Nigerian bourse traded marginally higher as investors took positions in the shares of Airtel Africa, Dangote Sugar, Presco and FCMB.
As a result, the All Share Index (ASI) grew by 0.16 per cent to close at 52,594.68 points while market capitalisation rose N44 billion to close at N28.646 trillion from an opening figure of N28.602 trillion.
Similarly, other indices finished higher with the exception of NGX CG, NGX Premium, NGX Banking, NGX Pension, NGX AFR Bank Value, NGX AFR Div. Yield, NGX MERI Value, NGX Consumer Goods, NGX Industrial Goods, NGX Insurance and NGX Growth indices which depreciated by 1.17 per cent, 1.18 per cent, 2.60 per cent, 0.64 per cent, 2.66 per cent, 2.05 per cent, 2.34 per cent, 0.40 per cent and 1.06 per cent respectively, while the NGX ASeM and NGX Sovereign Bond indices closed flat.
Reacting to the market’s performance, analysts at Cordros Research said despite the gain recorded in the market, investors will focus on the outcome of the MPC meeting to gain further clarity on the movement of yields in the fixed income market.
“If the MPC increases and there is a pass-through impact on yields in the fixed income market, there could be realignment of investments between markets that would pressure the performance of the equities market.
As a result, we envisage cautious trading from domestic investors over the next week and the short term.
Overall, we reiterate the need for positioning in only fundamentally sound stocks as the unimpressive macro-environment remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings”, they said.
Meanwhile a total turnover of 1.241 billion shares worth N15.668 billion in 18,560 deals was traded by investors, in contrast to a total of 1.286 billion shares valued at N29.634 billion that exchanged hands last week in 19,816 deals.
The financial services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.010 billion shares valued at N5.924 billion traded in 9,165 deals; thus contributing 81.37 per cent and 37.81 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The conglomerates Industry followed with 46.761 million shares worth N112.918 million in 641 deals. While the consumer goods industry recorded a turnover of 42.121 million shares worth N2.134 billion in 2,886 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc, Sterling Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, (measured by volume) accounted for 605.879 million shares worth N2.120 billion in 1,631 deals, contributing 48.82 per cent and 13.53 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
