Dr. Gilbert Obiajulu Uzodike, the founder of Cutix Plc has increased his stakes in the cable manufacturer with the purchase of 1 million additional shares of the company.

This is according to a “Notification of Share Dealing by an Insider” signed by the Company Secretary, Nwokporo Chinwendu and published on the NSE website.

It is important to note that the notification is compliant with The Exchange’s policy on insider dealing.

The statement revealed that the founder of Cutix Plc increased his stakes in the company with the acquisition of 1 million additional shares, in a single transaction, at an average share price of N2.15 per share.

This puts the total consideration for the shares purchased by Dr. Uzodike at N2,150,000.00.

Why this matters

• Dealings by insiders of listed companies are corporate actions to be disclosed by the management of the company, this is in compliance with NSE’s policy on insider dealing, as the disclosure is key in the effort to ensure transparency and reinforce the trust of the investing public.
• The purchase of the shares of Cutix Plc further cements the founder’s position as a substantial shareholder of the company.

What you should know: It is important to note that Cutix Plc made a forecast that in the fourth quarter of its financial year 2021 (i.e January 1st to March 31st, 2021), the company’s revenue will double, while profit is expected to increase by 9% to N148 million.

The assets under listing of the Nigerian Stock Exchange ETF market increased to N24.51 billion, as at the end of 2020, indicating an increase of 272%, compared to what was obtainable in similar period in 2019.

This is according to a statement made by the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Mr Oscar Onyema, during the recently concluded webinar organized by the NSE, and themed; ‘’NSE 2020 Market Recap and 2021 outlook.’’

Key highlights:

The following are the key highlights of the NSE-ETF market;

• Trading volume increased to 13.02 million units as at the end of 2020, up by +218.23% Year-on-Year.
• Market turnover skyrocketed to N56.66 billion, indicating a massive increase of 51,831% Year-on-Year. This signifies increased interest in Nigeria’s ETF market.

Mr Onyema emphasized that the impressive performance is attributable to a number of factors, such as;

• The unattractive yield in the fixed income market which led investors to seek alternative asset classes.
• The launch of two new ETFs, which are Meristem Growth ETF and Meristem Value ETF.
• The growing adoption of the asset class by investors and asset managers on the back of a strong Year-on-Year growth.

In the same vein, the NSE also announced that one of its subsidiaries – NG Clearing has received approval in principle from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to launch clearing and settlement of its first Exchange Traded Derivatives (ETDs) as Nigeria’s premier central counterparty clearinghouse.

What you should know:

• According to Investopedia, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of security that involves a collection of securities—such as stocks—that often tracks an underlying index, although they can invest in any number of industry sectors or use various strategies.
• Unlike mutual funds, ETF trades like a stock on the exchange, with a relatively higher daily liquidity and lower fees.
• Based on the 2020 review, the NEWGOLD ETF emerged as the best performing ETF for the second consecutive year posting a return of 66.03%.

Nigerian Stocks ended the second trading session on a slightly bearish note. The All Share Index dropped by 0.07% to close at 41,051.63 index points as against the -0.23% plunge recorded on Monday.

• Its Year-to-Date (YTD) returns presently stands at +1.94%. Nigerian investor’s losses stood at N16.08 billion.
• Nigerian Stocks trading turnover ended negative as volume dipped by 28.91% as against the +10.79% upsurge recorded yesterday.
• The NSE Insurance Index led the gainers by 6.29%, while the Consumer Goods index trailed distantly by 0.56%  On the flip side, the NSE Banking, Oil & Gas, and Industrial Index dropped by 0.73, 0.46, and 0.36% respectively.
• With 43 gainers to 21 losers, most sectoral indices closed positive, underlining the bargain-hunting across the sectors.

READ: Nigerian Stocks start-up 2021 on gains from GTBank, WAPCO, Zenith Bank

Top gainers

1. NNFM up 7.96% to close at N8
2. FLOURMILL up 3.23% to close at N32
3. WAPCO up 2.08% to close at N24.5
4. NB up 1.67% to close at N61
5. PRESCO up 0.68% to close at N74.5

READ: Google, Facebook, Twitter stocks drop, investors ponder if big techs have become too powerful

Top losers

1. ARDOVA down 8.63% to close at N18
2. BUACEMENT down 1.13% to close at N79
3. UACN down 5.39% to close at N7.9
4. ACCESS down 3.65% to close at N9.25
5. UBA down 2.20% to close at N8.9

READ: Analysis: Japaul, Ardova, Champion Breweries; What is behind the deals?

Outlook

Nigerian Stocks ended Tuesday’s trading session on a slightly bearish note, amid soaring oil prices prevailing at the U.S trading session. At the time of writing this report, Brent crude was trading below $55/barrel.

• The equities market closed today with a tinge of bearishness as profit-taking transactions on large-cap stocks depressed the overall market position to a net capital loss of N16 billion.
• Nairametrics envisages cautious buying on the sentiments that recent price action shows further market correction in the near term. However, stock traders anticipate the bullish run is still in play for the long term.