COVID-19 Update in Nigeria
US Capitol complex temporarily shut down
Champion Breweries gains 32.35% in a week, following Heineken’s indirect acquisition of its shares
Kinyungu Ventures Research calls for changes to cut-and-paste VC strategy in Africa
Flour Mills shares lose N7.4 billion on NSE, as investors book profit
COVID-19 Update in Nigeria
Daily Parallel Market Exchange Rate – ₦470/$1
4 cryptos gain over 400% in a month, far outperforming Bitcoin
Naira remains stable across forex markets as external reserve continues to rise
Oil prices tumble on fears of global economic recovery
Market Views
Airtel, Mobil, FCMB lead Nigerian Stocks Up W/W, investors gain N390 billion
The All-Share Index and Market Capitalization appreciated by 2.19% to close the week at 34,885.51 and N18.228 trillion respectively.
Nigerian Stocks ended the week bullish cumulatively. The All-Share Index and Market Capitalization appreciated by 2.19% to close the week at 34,885.51 and N18.228 trillion respectively.
Investors gained N390.26 billion. A total turnover of 1.816 billion shares worth N25.791 billion in 31,665 deals was traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 11.400 billion shares valued at N35.892 billion that exchanged hands last week in 39,265 deals.
READ: Nigerian Tier-2 banks fired up, investors profit up N1 trillion W/W
- The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.274 billion shares valued at N14.710 billion, traded in 18,392 deals; thus, contributing 70.15% and 57.04% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
- The Conglomerates Industry followed with 217.170 million shares worth N231.809 million in 1,226 deals. The third place was the Consumer Goods Industry, with a turnover of 113.760 million shares worth N2.598 billion in 4,568 deals.
- Trading in the top three equities namely Zenith Bank Plc, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, and Access Bank Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 649.529 million shares worth N8.104 billion in 6,395 deals, contributing 35.76% and 31.42% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
- Twenty-seven (27) equities appreciated at price during the week, higher than twenty-one (21) equities in the previous week. Forty-three (43) equities depreciated in price, lower than fifty-five (55) equities in the previous week. Ninety-one (91) equities remained unchanged, higher than eighty-five (85) recorded in the previous week.
READ: GTBank obtains approval-in-principle from CBN to operate as financial holding company
Top 10 gainers W/W
- UPDC REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST up 32.53% to close at N5.50
- NEIMETH INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICALS PLC up 12.03% to close at N2.70
- NCR (NIGERIA) PLC. up 10.00% to close at N1.98
- 11 PLC (MOBIL) up 9.89% to close at N208.80
- UNIVERSITY PRESS PLC. up 9.52% to close at N1.38
- UNITED CAPITAL PLC up 8.16% to close at N4.77
- CORONATION INSURANCE PLC up 7.32% to close at N0.44
- FCMB GROUP PLC. up 7.26% to close at N3.25
- AIRTEL AFRICA PLC up 7.00% to close at N535.00
- AXAMANSARD INSURANCE PLC up 6.36% to close at N2.34
Top 10 losers W/W
- JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SERVICES PLC down 11.11% to close at N0.24
- HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC down 10.83% to close at N1.07
- CUSTODIAN INVESTMENT PLC down 10.00% to close at N5.85
- CHAMPION BREW. PLC. down 9.43% to close at N0.96
- TRANS-NATIONWIDE EXPRESS PLC. down 9.38% to close at N0.87
- LINKAGE ASSURANCE PLC down 9.09% to close at N0.50
- WEMA BANK PLC. down 9.09% to close at N0.70
- PORTLAND PAINTS & PRODUCTS NIGERIA PLC down 8.42% to close at N2.61
- ARDOVA PLC down 8.33% to close at N13.75
- NASCON ALLIED INDUSTRIES PLC down 8.05% to close at N16.00
READ: MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement stocks fired up, investors gain whopping N708 billion
Outlook
Nigerian Stocks unsurprisingly recorded impressive gains W/W, as investors increased their buying pressure, especially buying from dips across the market spectrum.
Nigerian’s crude, selling at $48/barrel, boosted the Nigerian central bank dollar cash inflow. Also, the Apex Bank last concluded MPC meeting left all key indicators unchanged, kept Nigerian Bank stocks investors relieved, amid the bias that Nigerian banks would have enough headway in mitigating the prevailing economic uncertainties currently in play.
READ: Access Bank, First Bank up, investors gain N747 billion W/W
- Stock experts anticipate the present bullish run currently playing at Africa’s best-performing equity market will remain in the coming week, albeit alongside profit-taking.
- However, Nairametrics, envisage cautious buying, taking into consideration the low presence of the Foreign portfolio investors amid low investments seen lately in the Nigerian Stock Exchange amid stringent capital controls set in place by Nigeria’s Apex bank could limit the Stocks bull upside in the long term.
Explore Data on the Nairametrics Research Website
Market Views
Bitcoin, Gold, leading Stocks tumble on strong U.S dollar
The U.S dollar index gained 0.6% on the day to settle at 90.77.
The dollar was fired up at the last trading session of the week crushing its major currency rivals, Bitcoin, Gold, and leading global Stocks.
The U.S dollar retained its safe-haven status on the account of the U.S Dollar Index settled remarkably higher than a basket of six other global major currencies.
The U.S dollar index gained 0.6% on the day to settle at 90.77.
READ: U.S Central Bank leader says no rush into crypto dollar
What this means
Investors are piling to the U.S dollar after receiving worrying U.S economic data. Retail sales in the world’s largest economy were off 0.7% last month, the third straight drop.
- Such upsides seen in the greenback’s value saw gold at the expense of a charging dollar whose strength astonished metal traders, saw gold futures losing as much as 1.16% to settle at 1,829.90/ounce
- Also at press time the flagship crypto asset, Bitcoin traded at $35,756.99 with a daily trading volume of $70 Billion.
- Bitcoin is down 7.38% for the day.
READ: Google, Facebook, Twitter stocks drop, investors ponder if big techs have become too powerful
Also, the world’s biggest stock market by market volume and liquidity suffered heavy losses, as data showed the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged by 0.57% to settle at 30,814.26 index points, the S&P 500 lost about 0.72% to settle at 3,768.25 and the Nasdaq Composite fell by 0.87% to close at 12,998.50 index points.
The greenback was an outlier at the last trading session despite drops seen in U.S bond yields associated with the benchmark 10-year U.S. note, whose resurgence in the previous week had been the catalyst for the U.S dollar comeback.
READ: Gold on a grand slam win, gains $40 per ounce
What they are saying
Milan Cutkovic, Market Analyst at Axi, in an explanatory note to Nairametrics, spoke on fundamentals supporting the rebound of the U.S dollar;
- “Many investors continue to stand on the side lines. President-elect Joe Biden unveiled his US$1.9 trillion stimulus plan. There were no major surprises, and a lot of it was already priced in.
- “Investors are now focused on how quickly the Biden administration can implement their plans and support the ailing US economy. Although Biden will be inaugurated on Wednesday, the second impeachment of Donald Trump might overshadow the first few weeks of his term.
- “Investors are also increasingly confronted with the reality that the pandemic is still far from being under control, despite the significant progress that was made in the past few months, and several COVID-19 vaccines already on the market.”
READ: Silver surpasses three-week high, joins Bullish momentum
Bottom line
Investors are increasingly confronted with the reality that the pandemic is still far from being under control, thereby flocking back to the safe-haven currency despite the significant progress that was made in the past few months, and several COVID-19 vaccines already on the market.
Market Views
Google, Facebook, Twitter stocks drop, investors ponder if big techs have become too powerful
Some powerful politicians have publicly decried the role these tech brands are having in censoring speeches.
Leading U.S tech stocks including Facebook, Apple, Twitter, Amazon, and Google experienced record sell-offs on growing global sentiments that big tech companies are getting out of control.
Such macros weighed heavily on these stocks as evidenced in Monday’s trading session performance for these tech stocks.
READ: Top 10 stockbroking firms traded stocks worth N1.17 trillion in 2020
At the end of Monday’s trading session,
- Twitter lost about 6.41%
- Facebook down by 4.01%
- Apple dropped 2.32%
- Google (Alphabet) fell by 2.31%
- Amazon down by 2.15%
READ: Opera launches Opera For Business and announces new partnership with Google My Business
Also, some powerful politicians publicly decried the role these tech brands are having on censoring speech, as senior lawmakers in France and Germany, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, voiced their concerns.
The fall is largely attributed to record sell-offs from investors on account of these tech brands’ decision to permanently ban one of its most popular and powerful users, President Trump, and other leading voices from their social networks.
READ: 5 Nigerian startups selected to join 7 others at the Africa Tech Summit Connects (ATS)
What this means
Stock experts further anticipate such a move could deprive fast-rising tech brands of one of their best traffic-generators, as well as risking alienating some people who share the opinion that tech brands like Twitter, Google, Facebook have become too powerful.
Milan Cutkovic, Market Analyst at Axi, in a note to Nairametrics, spoke on the prevailing macros disrupting U.S stocks at least for the near term.
- “Fears of a global trade war have weighed multiple times on markets during the past few years. While concerns remain, the risk of trade tensions escalating has declined with Biden entering the White House soon.
- “While the US-China relations will remain complex, they could warm up somewhat after four turbulent years. Meanwhile, tech giants, Facebook and Twitter, have found themselves in a political crossfire by blocking US President Trump from their platform, which also weighed on the NASDAQ index.”
READ: Banks Vs Fintechs – Who should be Afraid? (Part Two)
What to expect: The question of whether big tech has become too powerful is likely to lead to some heated discussions in the coming weeks.
Market Views
Twitter drops 8.5% in early trading over President Trump ban
Record sell-offs from investors on account of the social media giant’s decision to ban, one of its most popular and powerful user, President Trump.
An American leading social media company, Twitter, saw its shares drop as much as 8.5% at the start of Monday’s trading session on the New York Stock Exchange.
READ: Mike Pence to go against Trump, announces he will attend inauguration
The fall is largely attributed to record sell-offs from investors on account of the social media giant’s decision to ban one of its most popular and powerful users, President Trump, permanently from its social network.
READ: Co-founder of Floyd Mayweather-backed crypto sentenced to prison for fraud
Stock experts further anticipate such a move deprives the fast-rising tech brand of one of its best traffic-generators, as well as risking alienating some people who share the opinion that tech brands like Twitter, Google, Facebook have become too powerful.
READ: Facebook suspends Donald Trump indefinitely
The tech brands are trying to stay away from accusations that they helped fuel the violence during the storming of the Capitol in Washington some days ago by a mob sympathetic to President’s Trump election loss.
