By Dipo Olowookere
Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited has rejigged its market indices, with some companies leaving and joining, according to a statement made available to Business Post.
It was stated that the review became effective from Tuesday. January 4, 2022, and the affected indices are the NGX 30, NGX Lotus Islamic, NGX Pension, Corporate Governance Index, Afrinvest Bank Value Index, Afrinvest Dividend Yield Index, Meristem Growth Index, Meristem Value Index; and the five sectoral indices of the exchange; NGX Banking, NGX Insurance, NGX Industrial, NGX Consumer Goods and NGX Oil & Gas.
For the Meristem Value Index, Cadbury Nigeria, Eterna, Nascon Allied Industries, Sterling Bank and Lafarge Africa were added, while Ardova, Cap, Custodian Investment, FBN Holdings, Honeywell Flour Mill, United Capital and Unilever Nigeria were removed.
Also, the NGX added Dangote Cement, GlaxoSmithKline, Guinness Nigeria, Livestock Feeds and Total Energies Marketing Nigeria to the Meristem Growth Index and yanked the duo of Nestle Nigeria and Stanbic IBTC Holdings from it.
Further, Afrivest Dividend Yield Index witnessed the addition of Guinness Nigeria, Vitafoam and Tripple Gee and the removal of AIICO Insurance, Conoil, Dangote Sugar, Fidelity Bank and United Capital, while Afrivest Bank Value Index welcomed UBA as a new member and the exit of FCMB.
The NGX 30 Index saw the entry of Oando and the exit of Nascon Allied Industries, while NGX Industrial Index only recorded the entry of Tripple Gee, with the NGX Lotus Islamic Index only witnessing the removal of Ardova and Unilever Nigeria.
However, the Corporate Governance Index, NGX Pension Index, NGX Oil & Gas Index, NGX Insurance Index, NGX Banking Index and NGX Consumer Goods Index remained unchanged.
The Nigerian bourse began publishing the NGX 30 Index in February 2009 with index values available from January 1, 2007. On July 1, 2008, the NGX developed five sectoral indices with a base value of 1,000 points, designed to provide investable benchmarks to capture the performance of specific sectors.
The sectoral indices comprise the top 15 most capitalized and liquid companies in the Insurance and Consumer Goods sectors; the top ten most capitalized and liquid companies in the Banking and Industrial Goods sector; and the top seven most capitalized and liquid companies in the Oil & Gas sector.
In July 2012, the Nigerian bourse launched The NGX Lotus Islamic Index (NGX LII) which consists of companies whose business practices are in conformity with Shari’ah Investment Principles, with the aim of increasing the breadth of the market and creating an important benchmark for investments as the alternative ethical and noninterest investment space widened.
The companies that appear on the Islamic Index have been thoroughly screened by Lotus Capital Halal Investment, in accordance with a methodology approved by an internationally recognized Shari’ah Advisory Board comprising of renowned Islamic scholars.
These indices were developed to allow investors to follow market movements and properly manage investment portfolios. Designed using the market capitalization methodology, the indices are rebalanced on a semi-annual basis on the first business day in January and in July.
Adedapo Adesanya