Aduragbemi Omiyale
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Analysts at Cordros Research have projected that corporate earnings would have a significant impact on how stock investors will react on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited this week.
Last week, macroeconomic happenings triggered selling pressure at the bourse, leading to a 0.93 per cent week-on-week decline in the All-Share Index (ASI) to 64,721.09 points and a 0.42 per cent w-o-w fall in the market capitalisation to N35.422 trillion.
The bourse only heaved a sigh of relief on Friday last week due to profit-taking in Airtel Africa, BUA Cement, MTN Nigeria, and others.
For those at Cordros Research, they anticipate mixed market performance this week, as investors rebalance their portfolios based on corporate earnings assessment for the first half of 2023.
“In the medium term, we expect investors’ sentiments to be influenced by developments in the macroeconomic landscape and the movement of yields in the fixed-income market.
“Overall, we reiterate the need for positioning in only fundamentally sound stocks as the weak macro environment remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings,” they expressed in an emailed note.
Last week, the Nigerian financial services sector played a significant role in boosting the trade volume and value of equities at the exchange despite global and local equities market challenges.
Financial stocks led the activity chart with 1.166 billion units valued at N16.925 billion traded in 13,819 deals, accounting for 69.04 per cent and 57.55 per cent of the total weekly trading volume and value, respectively.
The conglomerates counter followed with 191.320 million shares worth N843.336 million in 1,829 deals, the energy sector recorded a turnover of 64.352 million shares worth N810.637 million in 2,159 deals.
FBN Holdings, Transcorp and Fidelity Bank were the busiest stocks in the week, trading 576.688 million units worth N6.911 billion in 3,524 deals and contributing 34.14 per cent and 23.50 per cent to the total trading volume and value apiece.
At the close of business in the week, investors transacted 1.689 billion shares worth N29.407 billion in 29,477 deals, in contrast to the 1.741 billion shares valued at N25.087 billion traded in 30,652 deals in the previous week.
It was observed that 29 equities appreciated in price during the week, lower than 41 equities in the previous week, while 56 equities depreciated in price versus 44 equities in the previous week, with 70 equities unchanged, the same as the preceding week.
