Bargain Hunting in Dangote Cement Lift Stock Market by N194bn
Kayode Tokede
Bullish sentiments returned to the stock market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) as investors bargain hunting in Dangote Cement Plc and BUA Cement Plc encouraged the positive outturn.
Accordingly, the NGX All-Share Index advanced by 0.8per cent week-on-week (w/w) to close at 44,269.18 basis points from 43,912.64 basis points it opened for trading.
Particularly, bargain hunting in Dangote Cement that added 8.8per cent and BUA Cement that added 2.9 per cent lifted market capitalisation by N194billion to N24.112trillion from N23.918trillion the stock market opened for trading.
Consequently, the Month-till-Date (MTD and Year-till-Date (YtD) returns settled at +one per cent and +3.6per cent, respectively.
On activity levels, the trading volume and value increased by 135.5per cent and nine per cent w/w, respectively.
Sectoral performance was largely bearish following losses in the NGX Oil and Gas Index dropped by 5.4per cent, NGX Consumer Goods depreciated by 2.3per cent and NGX Banking Index was down by 1.9per cent
On the flip side, the NGX Industrial Goods added 5.4per cent, the sole gainer of the week.
The weekly market report of the Exchange said a total turnover of 1.410 billion shares worth N15.510 billion in 19,025 deals was traded by investors on the floor of the Exchange last week.
According to the report, the Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 804.570 million shares valued at N6.300 billion traded in 9,922 deals; thus contributing 57.04per cent and 40.62per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The report noted that trading in the top three equities namely Access Holdings Plc, FTN Cocoa Processors Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc. (measured by volume) accounted for 800.622 million shares worth N3.373 billion in 2,051 deals, contributing 56.76per cent and 21.75per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
According to analysts at Cordros Research, “Looking ahead, we expect investors to rebalance their portfolios based on an assessment of corporate earnings released for Q3-22.
“However, the increased FI yields may continue to constrain buying activities. Consequently, we expect market performance to remain mixed in the week ahead as investors rotate their portfolios towards stocks with attractive dividend yields amid intermittent profit-taking activities.
“Overall, we advise investors to take positions in only fundamentally justified stocks as the weak macro story remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.”
