Investors are trooping in large numbers at U.S equity markets as buying pressure escalates at the world’s biggest and most liquid equity market.

What you should know

Major U.S stock benchmarks were all fired up at the last trading session of the week, recording another week of gains for U.S stocks, as global investors looked past a softer-than-expected U.S jobs report.

READ: Apple, Microsoft gain over 1%, propels Nasdaq up

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite, and Russell 2000 RUT, +2.37% each ended at an all-time high – the first simultaneous record finishes for the quartet since Jan. 22, 2018.
• The Dow DJIA gained 0.8% to close near 30,218 points, while the S&P 500 SPX +0.88% advanced 0.9%, to finish near 3,699 points, and the Nasdaq Composite COMP surged by 0.7% to 12,464 points.

READ: U.S Stocks post worst monthly drop since March

What they are saying

Stephen Innes, Chief Global Market Strategist at Axi, in a note to Nairametrics, spoke on the prevailing fundamentals global investors would be gazing at amid the COVID-19 era:

“Investors continue to knock their Yule logs that a pre-holiday Christmas stimulus bill will provide the ultimate holiday stocking stuffer this year, and continue to look on the sunny side of the eventual vaccine rollout.

READ: Nobody is going to ban Bitcoin – US Bank regulator

“But before we can make new gains, there is the usual sentiment tug of war between medium-term optimism and near-term COVID-19 despair.

“I do not know how many times we have been down this road before. Still, all roads lead to prosperity eventually as the post-pandemic market rally has moved seamlessly from policy-driven to mobility-driven to vaccine-driven and should continue so even if some investors are sitting on the fence waiting for a new stimulus deal.”

READ: How digital transformation will impact Nigeria’s projected $8.79 billion economic expansion

What to expect

In the near term, leading stock experts are predicting an even stronger 2021 bullish outlook possibly for the U.S Stock markets, coupled with a quick inoculation-driven economic recovery.

READ: Tesla up 500% in 2020, near $500 billion market value

Nigerian Stocks ended the last trading session of the week on a positive note.

• The All Share Index gained 0.48% to close at 35,137.99 points as against -0.25% recorded on Thursday.
• Its Year-to-Date (YTD) returns currently stands at +30.91%.

Nigerian Stocks trading turnover at Friday’s trading session ticked up as volume gained +1.20%, as against the 21.57% plunge recorded on Thursday.

• FBNH, UBA, and ACCESS were the most active to boost market turnover.
• The market breadth ended negative as MOBIL led 13 Gainers as against 19 Losers topped by DANGCEM at the end of today’s session – an unimproved performance when compared with the previous outlook.
• ETI leads the list of active stocks that recorded an impressive volume spike at the end of today’s session.

Top Gainers

1. MOBIL up 9.20% to close at N228
2. AIRTELAFRI up 8.75% to close at N640
3. CILEASING up 7.17% to close at N4.78
4. ARDOVA up 3.21% to close at N14.45
5. ZENITHBANK up 1.70% to close at N23.95

Top Losers

1. DANGCEM down 2.93% to close at N199
2. DANGSUGAR down 2.56% to close at N19
3. UACN down 2.05% to close at N7.15
4. FBNH down 1.39% to close at N7.1
5. GUARANTY down 1.04% to close at N33.25

Outlook

Nigerian stocks got fired up amid soaring oil prices at the last trading session of the week.

• Buying pressure was significantly seen across leading NSE 30 Stocks like Mobil, Airtel, and Zenith Bank, which helped the bullish momentum all fired up.
• Nairametrics, however, envisages cautious buying as the COVID-19 crisis seems to be getting out of hand in Nigeria’s key international markets, which includes Western Europe and the United States.

The Board of Directors of Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc. has secured permission to raise the sum of N4.8 billion through private placement.

This is according to a disclosure signed by the company’s Secretary, Jide Ibitayo and seen by Nairametrics.

The disclosure is part of the resolutions reached at the Extra-Ordinary General Meeting of the firm and sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, dated December 3, 2020.

According to the information contained in the notification, the private placement worth N4.8 billion is to be raised through the sale of 8,888,888,889 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each of the company, at the rate of 54 kobo per share, in a distribution succinctly captured below:

• 5,331,004,445 units (approximately 60% of the total allotted units) is to be sold to Charles Enterprises LLC for about N2.88 billion.
• The remaining 3,557,844,444 (approximately 40% of the total allotted units) is to be sold to Arubiewe Farms Ltd for about N1.92 billion.

What this means

• According to Investopedia, a private placement is a sale of stock shares or bonds to pre-selected investors and institutions rather than on the open market. It is an alternative to an initial public offering (IPO) for a company seeking to raise capital for expansion.
• In this light, it is pertinent to note that private sales are now common for start-ups, as they allow the company to obtain the money they need to grow while delaying or foregoing an IPO.

What you should know

Other key resolutions reached at the Extra-Ordinary General Meeting include:

• Raising the company’s authorized share capital from N10 billion to N10.05 billion.
• To raise additional capital via the issue of debt or equity or a combination of both including convertible bonds, loans, stock, bonds with options etc.
• Amendment of clause 6 of the Memorandum and clause 5 of the Articles of Association of the company respectively.