Stock Market Advances by N923bn WoW on Buy Interest in BUA Cement

Kayode Tokede 

Stock market trading for last week closed on a positive note as buy interest in BUA Cement Plc, 33 others lifted the market capitalisation by N923billion Week-on-Week (WoW). 

The stock price of BUA Cement gained 20 per cent WoW to push the market capitalisation up by N923 billion to close the week at N127.361 trillion.

The Nigerian  Exchange Limited All-Share Index (NGX ASI) recorded 0.73 per cent WoW  gain to close at 198,407.30 basis points, bringing the month-to-date and year-to-date returns to +2.9per cent and +27.5per cent, respectively.

Sectoral performance on the NGX was mixed, as the NGX Industrial Goods gained 5.7per cent, NGX Oil & Gas appreciated by 1.5per cent, and NGX Consumer Goods inched up by 0.6 while NGX Insurance Index dropped by 4.6 per cent and NGX Banking decline by one per cent.  

Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth closed positive as 34 stocks gained, 44 lost, while 61 remained unchanged. Premier Paints led the gainers table by 32.88 per cent to close at N19.40, per share. 

Conoil followed with a gain of 20.95 per cent to close at N204.40, while BUA Cement went up by 20 per cent to close to N270.00, per share.

On the other side, SCOA Nigeria led the decliners table by 34.06 per cent to close at N22.65, per share. Fortis Global Insurance followed with a loss of 20.81 per cent to close at N1.18, while Sovereign Trust Insurance declined by 20.68 per cent to close at N2.11, per share.

Meanwhile, a total turnover of 3.321 billion shares worth N164.845 billion in 318,907 deals was traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 3.695 billion shares valued at N177.687 billion that exchanged hands last week in 370,980 deals.

 The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 2.179 billion shares valued at N59.809 billion traded in 124,992 deals: contributing 65.61 per cent and 36.28 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The Oil and Gas Industry followed with 207.690 million shares worth N27.606 billion in 32,820 deals, while the Consumer Goods Industry pulled a turnover of 189.633 million shares worth N11.852 billion in 34,288 deals.

Trading in the top equities, Access Holdings, Fortis Global Insurance and First Holdco accounted for 677.312 million shares worth N14.561 billion in 17,346 deals, contributing 20.39 per cent and 8.83 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. 

Capital market analysts have projected high-quality dividend-paying stocks are expected to drive the Nigerian equities market this week, as investors seek stability in the market.

For this week, a group of analysts at Cordros Research in a report said, it expected a cautious tone trading activities this week, with selective buying likely to persist in bellwether names, although profit taking in recent outperformers could limit further upside. 

“Investors will also closely monitor the domestic inflation print alongside evolving global geopolitical tensions,” they added. 

Analysts at Cowry Assets Management Limited in a statement said, “market performance is expected to remain mixed as investors continue to rebalance their portfolios and take profits in recently appreciated stocks. 

“However, selective buying interest in fundamentally sound companies and dividend-paying stocks could provide some support to the market. Overall, trading activity is likely to remain cautious as investors monitor macroeconomic developments and corporate earnings expectations.”

In addition, analysts at Afrinvest Limited said it expected the market to remain mildly bullish this week supported by selective institutional buying, although intermittent profit taking might lead to short-term volatility.