By Goddy Egene
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Leading wealth advisory firm, Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited, and THISDAY Newspapers have partnered to launch the THISDAY/Afrinvest 40, a capital market index that measures the daily stock performance of some of the largest companies trading on the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE).
Starting from today, the index will be published in THISDAY Newspaper every weekday, while in-depth analyses focusing on macroeconomic, sectoral and company issues will be published in THISDAY, The Sunday Newspaper every Sunday.
The THISDAY/Afrinvest 40 Index is made up of 40 stocks, which cut across the various sectors on the NSE. The companies include premier corporations like Nigerian Breweries Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, Cadbury Nigeria Plc and Glaxo SmithKline Plc, among others.
Commenting on the decision to limit the index to 40 companies, Ike Chioke, Group Managing Director of Afrinvest, said: “It is very difficult to effectively track every single security trading in the country. To get around this, we have taken a smaller sample of the market that is representative of the whole.
“The stocks within the THISDAY/Afrinvest 40 index were selected on the basis of liquidity, tradability (float) and size (market capitalization).
“Collectively, the stocks of these 40 companies account for 94.0% of total market capitalization and approximately 42.0% of tradable float.â€
On the value of the index to the investing public, Chioke explained: “THISDAY/Afrinvest 40 is based on detailed technical analyses of the stocks of the 40 publicly-traded stocks, looking at historical trends – that is, general direction of a market, or of the price of an asset – and changes in price to determine the future direction of prices.
“As a rule of thumb, it is best to trade with trends. This implies that if the general trend of the market is headed up, you should be very cautious about taking any positions that rely on the trend going in the opposite direction.
“The THISDAY/Afrinvest 40 Index can, thus, serve as a useful guide for investors in the Nigerian capital market,†he stated.
Speaking on the partnership with Afrinvest, the Chairman/Editor-in-Chief THISDAY Newspapers, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, said: “One of our responsibilities as the newspaper of record and most influential publication in the country is to educate and enlighten the public, and this concerns every sphere of life, including information on business and market trends that would help our readers make smart investment decisions. Afrinvest is a natural partner for this venture.
“With a team of experienced investment research analysts, Afrinvest has distinguished itself as, perhaps, the foremost provider of cutting-edge research and intelligence on the Nigerian economy, including up-to-date investment and trading information on equities and fixed income markets, using its very robust database, which it has maintained for nearly two decades.â€
Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited is a leading independent investment banking firm with a focus on West Africa and active in four principal areas: investment banking, securities trading, asset management, and investment research.
Over the past decade, Afrinvest Research has published its annual Banking Sector Report, which x-rays the current growth challenges and outlook of the Nigerian banking landscape within the context of the domestic and global economy.
The THISDAY/Afrinvest 40 Index will be published in THISDAY Newspaper every weekday and every Sunday and it will feature a wide range of valuable information, including macroeconomic research, fixed income and equity market analyses, industry analyses, as well as company analyses.
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