The Nigerian equities market rallied and posted gains of 2.09% for the week, continuing its bullish stance on the back of increased local participation and strong earning report for the first quarter of the year 2022. The performance also represents a boost in the moral of investors as the preceding week saw a bearish performance of 0.22%, as it added N595.9 Billion into the market.
This performance comes on the back of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) voting unanimously to raise the benchmark interest rate to 13% after two years of expansionary monetary policy. This is the first time the CBN is raising the interest rate since September 2020, where the interest rate stood at 11.50%. CBN adopting a hawkish stance like the U.S. Federal Reserve, is targeted at curbing the rising rate of inflation in the country, while still cautiously ensuring economic growth.
As previously mentioned, the All-Share Index (ASI) gained by 2.09% from 52,979.96 points recorded as of the end of last week to close the week at 54,085.30 index points, while the market capitalization followed suit to close at N29.16 trillion. This brings the month-to-date performance of the Nigerian stock market to +8.96% and a year-to-date gain of 26.61%.
Equity market performance
A total of 1.840 billion shares worth N27.286 billion in 27,273 deals was traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 3.021 billion shares valued at N31.784 billion that exchanged hands last week in 29,153 deals.
Just like in the previous week, the Financial Services Industry (measured by led the activity chart with 1.286 billion shares valued at N10.745 billion traded in 12,379 deals; thus contributing 69.90% and 39.37% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Conglomerates Industry followed with 251.105 million shares worth N1.659 billion in 1,371 deals. The third place was The Consumer Goods Industry, with a turnover of 105.601 million shares worth N2.522 billion in 4,263 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Ecobank Transnational Incorporation, Jaiz Bank Plc and Access Holdings Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 640.650 million shares worth N4.825 billion in 2,098 deals, contributing 34.81% and 17.68% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Despite the bullish performance by the market, which is majorly attributable to gains seen in AIRTELAFRI (+20.20%), we saw 15 indexes post declines for the week. Asides from the ASI, the NGX main board, was the only other index to post gains. NGX ASeM and NGX Sovereign Bond closed flat.
TOP GAINERS
- IMG up +20.88% to close at N11.00
- MRS up +20.59% to close at N16.40
- AIRTELAFRI up +20.20% to close at N1,767.00
- CONOIL up +9.95% to close at N34.25
- FTNCOCOA up +9.37% to close at N0.35
TOP LOSERS
- UACN down – 27.08% to close at N10.50
- GSPECPLC down –18.77% to close at N2.77
- ROYALEX down –14.04% to close at N0.98
- RTBRISCOE down –13.85% to close at N0.56
- JAIZBANK down –13.33% to close at ₦0.78
Summary
23 equities appreciated in price during the week, lower than 37 equities in the previous week. 54 equities depreciated in price, higher than 42 equities in the previous week, while 79 equities remained unchanged higher than 77 equities recorded in the previous week.
