Economy
How Nigeria’s Stock Market Closed 2020 at 40,270.72 Points
By Dipo Olowookere
Against all odds, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) finished very strong in the year 2020, with the All-Share Index (ASI) hitting 40,270.72 points.
On the last trading session of the year, the market appreciated by 1.92 per cent on the back of gains printed by MTN Nigeria, BUA Cement and other stocks.
In the session, the benchmark index added 758.41 points to its previous value of 39,512.31 points as a result of the buying pressure on the blue-chip equities.
This resulted in an increase in the market capitalisation of the exchange by N397 billion to N21.057 trillion from N20.660 trillion.
When there was an outbreak of coronavirus early in the year, not many gave the local bourse the chance to perform well in the year. In fact, offshore investors had to pull out of the market for fear of the exchange crashing like in 2007/2008 global financial mess.
However, the exit of the foreign portfolio investors gave domestic investors a good opportunity to take charge of the market and it was good for the NSE at last.
On the last trading session of the year last Thursday, MTN Nigeria gained N9.90 to settle at N169.90 per share and was trailed by BUA Cement, which appreciated by N6.95 to close at N77.35 per unit.
BOC Gases rose by 87 kobo to finish at N9.57 per share, Northern Nigerian Flour Mills grew by 61 kobo to end at N6.74 per unit, while C&I Leasing gained 47 kobo to close at N5.20 per share.
Despite the positive performance of the market during the session, some shares performed badly, with Presco the worst as a result of the 85 kobo price decline it recorded, closing at N70.95 per share.
International Breweries lost 54 kobo to finish at N5.95 per unit, Eterna fell by 51 kobo to end at N5.10 per share, Ecobank depleted by 50 kobo to sell at N6 per unit, while Dangote Sugar lost 30 kobo to close at N17.60 per share.
On the activity chart, a total of 710.7 million shares worth N10.1 billion exchanged hands in 4,396 deals compared with the 372.9 million stocks valued at N11.5 billion transacted a day earlier in 5,186 deals, indicating a rising in the trading volume by 90.57 per cent, a decline in the trading value by 12.35 per cent and a slump in the number of deals by 15.23 per cent.
AIICO Insurance closed as the most active stock by volume with the sale of 206.0 million shares valued at N234.2 million, while Access Bank traded 99.7 million stocks worth N898.6 million.
Japaul sold 85.7 million units worth N49.6 million, FBN Holdings transacted 48.3 million equities valued at N342.9 million, while Zenith Bank exchanged 44.0 million shares for N1.1 billion.
On a sectoral level, only the industrial goods and energy sectors closed the last trading session of the year positive, rising by 3.90 per cent and 0.65 per cent respectively.
The banking space lost 0.89 per cent, the consumer goods counter depreciated by 0.80 per cent, while the insurance sector went down by 0.41 per cent when market activities were closed at 12:30pm because of the public holiday the next day for New Year celebration.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed flat on Wednesday, August 5, as the market witnessed weaker trading activity with only two deals executed.
In the midweek session, the volume of securities exchanged by investors dropped 99.9 per cent to 802 units from the 1.6 million units recorded on Tuesday. The value of securities further decreased by 99.6 per cent to N208,240 from the preceding session’s N47.6 million, and the number of deals significantly went down by 93.9 per cent to two deals from the 33 deals recorded a day earlier.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 76.9 million units transacted for N5.5 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
There were no price gainers or losers yesterday.
As a result, the market capitalisation stood unmoving at N2.739 trillion, while the NASD Security Index (NSI) remained unchanged at 4,563.96 points.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira slid against the US Dollar by N2.28 or 0.17 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Wednesday, August 5, to N1,363.85/$1 from N1,362.55/$1.
The local currency also declined against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N5.97 to close at N1,837.38/£1 compared with Tuesday’s closing rate of N1,831.41/£1, and against the Euro, it crashed by N6.54 to quote at N1,575.25/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,568.71/€1.
But at the black market, the Nigerian Naira traded flat against the greenback yesterday at N1,400/$1, and also remained unchanged at the GTBank FX desk at N1,373/$1.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says rates have narrowed to below two per cent, while the country’s external reserves have risen above $52.5 billion, reflecting the impact of its ongoing monetary and foreign exchange reforms.
CBN Governor Yemi Cardoso, represented by the Acting Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations, Mrs Hakama Sidi-Ali, disclosed this on Tuesday during the CBN Fair in Gombe. He noted that reforms introduced since 2023 had significantly reduced the disparity between the official FX market and the parallel market.
“The Naira continues to strengthen, with the spread between official and Bureau de Change rates now below two per cent,” he said, adding that reserves at $52.5 billion were supported by sustained inflows and renewed investor confidence in the economy.
Interbank FX transactions slid as weaker market activities dropped total Dollar volume exchanged to $75.35 million, a 51.8 per cent decline from $156.23 million in turnover quoted at the previous close.
The deals at the NFEM window also fell as data from the central bank put Wednesday’s quote at 82 from 139.
In the cryptocurrency market, major were down as global risk sentiment softened as a key world equity index slipped and chipmakers fell.
The MSCI All Country World Index snapped a five-day run to fall 0.2 per cent as chipmakers retreated on both sides of the Pacific. South Korea’s Kospi, a bellwether for the AI trade, dropped 4.4 per cent.
Ripple (XRP) depleted by 1.7 per cent to $1.05, Binance Coin (BNB) decreased by 1.0 per cent to $594.87, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 0.9 per cent to $0.1884, TRON (TRX) shrank by 0.2 per cent to $0.3261, Solana (SOL) crumbled by 0.1 per cent to $74.00, and Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 0.1 per cent to $0.0697.
On the flip side, Ethereum (ETH) gained 2.3 per cent to trade at $1,911.41, and Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 0.8 per cent to $64,759.28, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
By Dipo Olowookere
The domestic stock exchange rebounded by 0.05 per cent on Wednesday on the back of renewed bargain-hunting by investors, though the level of activity waned.
After bleeding for a few days, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited heaved a sigh of relief yesterday, as the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 109.41 points to close at 244,912.24 points compared with the previous day’s 244,802.83 points, and the market capitalisation garnered N71 billion to settle at N158.087 trillion versus Tuesday’s N158.016 trillion.
Business Post reports that despite the rebound recorded by Customs Street at midweek, the market breadth index remained negative, as there were 20 price advancers and 29 price decliners, implying bearish investor sentiment.
Linkage Assurance appreciated by 9.94 per cent to N1.77, AVA Capital rose by 9.55 per cent to N10.90, Fortis Global Insurance advanced by 7.69 per cent to N2.80, McNichols gained 7.34 per cent to finish at N5.85, and Coronation Insurance surged by 5.51 per cent to N2.49.
Conversely, Honeywell Flour depreciated by 9.94 per cent to N16.30, PZ Cussons gave up 9.94 per cent to trade at N74.75, Zichis crashed by 9.74 per cent to N20.76, Learn Africa slipped by 9.62 per cent to N9.40, and Neimeth tumbled by 8.33 per cent to N8.25.
The busiest equity was FCMB, with a turnover of 369.2 million units valued at N4.1 billion. Chams transacted 46.7 million units worth N201.8 million, First Holdco transacted 43.5 million units for N5.7 billion, Access Holdings sold 29.8 million units worth N778.0 million, and Linkage Assurance exchanged 19.6 million units valued at N33.5 million.
At the close of transactions, market participants bought and sold 824.1 million units worth N25.5 billion in 48,114 deals, in contrast to the 1.6 billion units sold for N28.7 billion in 54,160 deals a day earlier, showing a shortfall in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 48.49 per cent, 11.15 per cent, and 11.16 per cent, respectively.
