Nigerian bourse continued its bullish momentum on Friday as investors maintained buying pressures on major bellwether stocks.

The All Share Index (ASI) gained by 1.28% to close the week at 13,754.87 points. Investors gained N173.62 billion to close market capitalization at N13.754 trillion, thus reducing the YTD loss to -2.64%.

• A total volume of 335 million units of shares, valued at N4.27billion exchanged hands in 4,231 deals
• STERLNBANK was the most traded shares by volume at 79.5million units while ZENITHBK topped by value at N878.6million.
• Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth was positive as 22 stocks advanced against 17 decliners. NB (+9.82%) led the gainer’s chart to close the week, while NNFM (-10.00%) finished the top loser.
• Sector Performance was broadly bullish as four indexes closed in green.
• NSE Consumer Goods Index: Up by 2.45%, on price appreciation in NB (9.82%), PRESCO (+7.07%), and FLOURMILL (6.70%)
• NSE Banking Index: Improved by 2.01%, buoyed by GUARANTY (+3.85%), STANBIC (+3.58%), and ACCESSBK (+2.29%).
• NSE Industrial Index: Gained 1.58%, on WAPCO (+6.74%) and DANGCEM (+2.28%).
• NSE Insurance Index: Appreciated by 0.44%, saved by CORNERST (+9.23%).
• NSE Oil & Gas Index: Down by -0.51%, on OANDO (-9.78%).

Top gainers

• NB up 9.82% to close at N52.55
• PRESCO up 7.07% to close at N53
• FLOURMILL up 6.70% to close at N21.5
• STANBIC up 3.58% to close at N40.5
• DANGCEM up 2.28% to close at N139

Top Losers

• NNFM down 10.00% to close at N4.05
• OANDO down 9.78% to close at N2.03
• CADBURY down 5.41% to close at N7
• UACN down 3.17% to close at N6.1
• DANGSUGAR down 1.60% to close at N12.3

Outlook

Nigerian bourse continued its bullish run at the last trading session for the week amid falling prices, a strong dollar, and rising COVID-19 caseloads.

• Buying pressures in NSE30 Stocks that include Nigerian Breweries, Dangote Cement, Stanbic, and Flourmills kept Investors smiling to the bank
• Nairametrics envisage cautious buying in spite of high buying pressures lately, as market liquidity remains a growing concern.

U.S tech Stocks gained higher as leading tech brands stocks that include Apple and Microsoft witnessed buying pressures significantly.

Apple and Microsoft shares rose 1% and 1.3%, respectively, to lead tech higher. Alphabet shares gained nearly 1% and Amazon advanced 0.7%. Netflix was up 0.5% and Facebook advanced 0.2%.

Explore the Nairametrics Research Website for Economic and Financial Data

The Dow Jones gained 0.2%, to settle at 26,815.44. At its session low, the Dow was down 226 points. The S&P 500 rallied up by 0.3% to 3,246.59 and the Nasdaq composite advanced 0.4% to 10,672.27.

The bullish run, however, was kept in check, as first-time claims for state unemployment benefits totaled 870,000 for the week ended Sept. 19

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While investors wait for the passage of the U.S stimulus package lingering at the U.S capitol, Stephen Innes, Chief Global Market Strategist at AxiCorp in a note to Nairametrics spoke on price movements in notable tech stocks, like Apple

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“Before the street started to pick up on the more favorable stimulus overtones US equities had been climbing steadily since the open with Tech and pockets within Cyclicals/Value leading the way midday. Apple is again setting the tone for Tech. Defensives outperformed out of the gate, although the last leg up seems more Cyclical and Value-driven. Many folks think this market cannot run without Financials, so with Financials acting better and Tech finding support, one could easily make a case for a low-volume melt-up in the near term,” he said.

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However, it’s critical to note that stock traders, global investors are having a tough time in September, with the major equity benchmarks falling momentarily as tech shares lose steam.

The demand for local stocks by foreign investors between July and August 2020, received a boost, as it increased by 12.69%, from N34.59 billion (about $89.0 million) recorded in July 2020 to N38.98 billion (about $100.81 million) as of August 2020.

Foreign inflow and outflow increased within the period under view, from N13.70 billion and N20.89 billion to N17.66 billion and N21.32 billion respectively, in the months of July and August 2020.

Explore the Nairametrics Research Website for Economic and Financial Data

However, total domestic and foreign portfolio investment decreased by 8.49%, from N103.21 billion recorded to N94.45 billion.

This is according to the NSE polls on trading figures from market operators, on their domestic and foreign portfolio investment (FPI) flows.

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Year-on-Year, the performance of August 2020 (N94.45 billion), when compared with the performance in August 2019 (N121.99billion), revealed that total transactions decreased by 22.58%. In August 2020, the total value of transactions executed by Domestic Investors outperformed transactions executed by Foreign Investors, as shown in the diagram below:

Source: NSE Report, 2020.

Both Retail and Institutional investors of the domestic market recorded a decline, however, the magnitude differs. While retail transactions decreased by 18.22%, from N32.54billion to N26.61billion in the period under review. The shares of institutional investors in the domestic market decreased by 20.01%, from N36.08billion in July 2020 to N28.86billion in August 2020.

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In summary, the thirteen years performance of the domestic transactions decreased by 72.30%, from N3.556 trillion in 2007 to N985bn in 2019 whilst foreign transactions increased by 53.08% from N616bn to N943bn over the same period.

Key highlights

• Total domestic transactions completed year to date (YTD) is about N731.02 billion
• Total foreign transactions completed YTD is about N470.2 billion
• Foreign inflow increased by 28.91% between July and August 2020
• Foreign outflow also increased by 2.06% between July and August 2020