It was a broadly positive performance on the local bourse last week as the bulls dominated in four of the five trading days. As a result, the All-Share Index edged up by 1.2% w/w, to close at 38,726.10 points. A total turnover of 1.082 billion shares worth N9.548 billion in 17,933 deals were traded by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.037 billion shares valued at N9.471 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 17,577 transactions.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 767.001 million shares valued at N4.356 billion traded in 9,447 deals; thus contributing 70.86% and 45.63% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Oil and Gas Industry followed with 83.528 million shares worth N1.454 billion in 1,118 deals. The third place was Conglomerates Industry, with a turnover of 72.813 million shares worth N356.723 million in 781 deals.
Bargain hunting in large-cap stocks; DANGCEM (+3.5%), BUACEMENT (+2.8%), MTNN (+2.6%), and GUARANTY (+2.3%) buoyed market performance. Consequently, the MTD return turned positive (+0.7%), while the YTD loss moderated to -3.8%.
Also, the overall activity level was relatively stronger, as trading volume and value rose by 4.3% and 0.8%, respectively. Performance across sectors was mixed, with the Industrial (+2.6%) and Insurance (+1.2%) indices recording gains, while the Consumer Goods (-0.4%) and Oil and Gas (-0.8%) indices closed in the red. The Banking index closed flat.
Experts at Cordros Capital advice on the need for positioning in only fundamentally sound stocks as the weak macro environment remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings as the week ahead is likely to see alpha-seeking investors continue rotating their portfolio towards equities amid moderation in the uptick of yields in the FI market. They say market performance is expected to be dominated by the bulls, as positioning by early birds in dividend-paying stocks ahead of H1-2021 dividend declarations should outweigh profit-taking activities.
