Three bank stocks – Sterling Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc and Access Holdings Plc – drove activities in the financial service sector of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) last week.
With the development, the financial sector maintained its dominance in volume terms with one billion shares valued at N5.7 billion traded in 10,107 deals, contributing 85 per cent to the total equities turnover.
Specifically, trading in the top three equities namely Sterling Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc and Access Holdings Plc accounted for 540 million shares worth N1.5 billion in 2,179 deals, contributing 45.18 per cent to the total equity turnover volume.
Following the banking sector in volume terms last week was the ICT industry with 37.1 million shares worth N4.6 billion in 1,996 deals.
The consumer goods industry ranked third with a turnover of 35.2 million shares worth N1.2 billion in 2,471 deals.
On the whole, a total turnover of 1.2 billion shares worth N12.9 billion was recorded in 19,305 deals by investors on the floor of the exchange, in contrast to 914 million units worth N15.3 billion that changed hands in 18,021 deals during the preceding week.
Consequently, the NGX All-Share index and market capitalisation appreciated by 0.7 per cent to close the week at 50,045.83 and N26.994 trillion respectively.
Similarly, all other indices finished higher except NGX- Growth Index which
depreciated by 0.51 per cent while, the NGX ASeM and NGX Sovereign bond indices closed flat.
The positive outing was underpinned by investors’ interest in Guinness (+9.9 per cent), Stanbic IBTC (+8.2 per cent), AccessCorp (+6.1 per cent), Lafarge WAPCO (+4.6 per cent), BUA Foods (+4.5 per cent) and BUA cement (+2.7 per cent).
Further breakdown of last week’s trading showed that a total of 7,811 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETP) valued at 837,295.25 were recorded in 25 deals compared with a total of 6,968 units valued at N894, 205.74 transacted in 17 deals during the preceding week.
Analysts at Vetiva Dealings and Brokerage said: “With the last 3 sessions of positive activity in the market, all the sectoral indices closed the week in the green. We anticipate a slow start next week, with possibilities of profit taking in some of this week’s gainers.”
Codros Capital said: “We expect alpha-seeking investors to continue to seek trading opportunities in stocks of companies that delivered impressive earnings during the Q2-22 earnings season amid the yield uptick in the FI market.
“However, we think the absence of a near-term catalyst will likely skew overall market sentiments to the negative side, particularly as the political space gets heated.
“Notwithstanding, we reiterate the need for positioning in only fundamentally sound stocks as the unimpressive macro environment remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.”
Investdata Consulting said: “We expect a mixed trend on increased buying interest in banking stocks and portfolio rebalancing on bargain hunting as players interpret macroeconomic data and impressive half-year results in expectation of more bank’s scorecards, especially from GTCO, UBA and Accesscorp amid sovereign risks, as all eyes are on interim dividends.”
A total of 28,192 units of bonds valued at N27.9 million were traded in 11 deals compared to 17,470 units valued at N18.2 million transacted last week 15
deals.
On the price movement chart, 43 equities appreciated during the week, higher than 27 equities in the previous week. 21 equities depreciated lower than 38 in the previous week, while 92 equities remained unchanged.
