A turnover of 3.021 billion shares worth N31.8 billion was recorded in 29,153 deals by investors on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited last week.
The volume of shares traded was, however, higher than 1.8 billion units worth N27.2 billion that exchanged hands in 36,286 deals during the week ended May 13, 2022.
Specifically, the financial services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 2.24 billion shares valued at N12.4 billion traded in 10,817 deals; thus, contributing 74.30 per cent to the total equity turnover volume.
The conglomerate industry followed with 345.8 million units worth N558.9 million in 1,676 deals. The consumer goods industry ranked third with a turnover of 149 million shares worth N2.8 billion in 5,632 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely, FCMB Group Plc, Jaiz Bank Plc and Transnational Corporation Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 1.7 billion shares worth N4 billion in 2,188 deals, contributing 56.2 per cent to the total equity turnover.
Further breakdown of last week’s transactions showed that a total of 141,582 units valued at N3 million were traded this week in 17 deals compared to a total of 175,506 units worth N6.8 million transacted in 36 deals.
Also, 31,003 units valued at N33.2 million were traded in 11 deals compared with a total of 43,629 units valued at N48.5 million transacted in 33 deals.
On the price movement chart, the bears dictated proceedings as investors booked profits on bellwether stocks. Consequently, the NGX All-share index and market capitalisation depreciated by 0.22 per cent to close the week at 52,979.96 and N28.562 trillion respectively.
Similarly, all other indices finished lower except NGX-Main Board, NGX Insurance, NGX MERI Growth and NGX Oil/Gas indices, which appreciated at 1.60 per cent, 3.63 per cent, 0.14 per cent and 0.30 per cent while, NGX Asem index and NGX Sovereign bond closed flat.
Particularly, profit-taking activities witnessed in the shares of Flourmill (-10.7 per cent), WAPCO (-8.3per cent), International Brewery (-6.8 per cent), and MTN Nigeria (-4.8 per cent) led the weekly loss.
Sectoral performance was mixed as the Insurance (+3.6 per cent) and Oil and Gas (+0.3 per cent) indices advanced, while the Banking (-1.2 per cent), Consumer Goods (-1.0 per cent) and Industrial Goods (-0.6 per cent) indices declined.
Analysts at Cordros Capital said: “In the week ahead, we believe investors will be focused on the outcome of the MPC meeting scheduled to hold next week to gain further clarity on the movement of yields in the FI market.
“As a result, we envisage cautious buying actions from investors interested in cyclical stocks with attractive dividend yields. Notwithstanding, we reiterate the need for positioning in only fundamentally sound stocks as the weak macro environment remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.”
Investdata Consulting said the renewed buying interests in blue chips resulted from bargain hunters taking advantage of pullbacks to position as sector and portfolio rotation continue.
“This happened at a time market players are also digesting the inflation reports and earnings yields, ahead of next week’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting and other concerns related to next year’s general election activities, beginning with primaries of political parties at the end of this month.
“As we have always said, profit-taking is one of the market dynamics that create opportunities for new entrants as players await pullbacks to jump into fundamentally sound stocks with positive returns above the inflation,” he said