UBA, GTCO, others lift market turnover by N14.8 billion

Heavy transactions in the shares of United Bank for Africa (UBA), Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO), and Access Holdings Plc lifted the volume of shares traded last week, as a turnover of 917.2 million shares worth N14.8 billion was recorded in 19, 513 deals by investors.

However, the volume of shares traded was higher than a total of N504 million units valued at N7.5 billion that was exchanged in 12, 393 deals.

The top three equities accounted for 365.6 million shares worth N4.1 billion in 562 deals, contributing 38.8 percent to the total equity volume.

The financial services industry (measured by volume) led the chart with 648.2 million shares valued at N6.3 billion traded in 9293 deals on the sectoral activity chart.

The sector contributed 70 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The conglomerate industry followed with 253.4 million shares worth N280.8 million in 1,126 deals. The consumer goods industry followed with 102.6 million shares worth N3.2 billion in 3,016 deals. The third place was the conglomerate’s industry, with a turnover of 36.2 million shares worth N193.4 million in 562 deals.

The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) all-share index, which measures the performance of quoted companies and market capitalization of listed equities depreciated by 0.5 percent to close the week at 51,979.92 and N28.031 trillion respectively.

Similarly, all other indices finished lower, except the NGX Insurance, NGX MERI Growth, NGX Oil/Gas, NGX Growth, and NGX Sovereign Bond Indices, which appreciated at 1.81 percent, 1.01 percent, 3.80 percent, 0.41 percent, and 0.15 percent, while, the NGX ASM index closed flat.

Notably, profit-taking activities witnessed in Nigerian Breweries (-10.9 percent), International Breweries (-6.9 percent), Lafarge WAPCO (-6.7 percent), and Zenith Bank (-6.5 percent) stocks led the weekly loss.

Reacting to market performance last week, analysts at Codros Capital said: “In the interim, we believe the full swing of the H1 ’22 earnings season will dictate market sentiments and possibly drive positive performance as investors hunt for bargains in fundamentally sound stocks with a consistent history of interim dividend payments.

“Notwithstanding, we envisage intense selling pressures on stocks of companies that grossly underperform in H1, 22. Overall, we reiterate the need: for positioning in only fundamentally sound stocks as the weak macro environment remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.”

For analysts, Vetiva Dealings and Brokerage firm “Market sentiment has been bearish all through the week, following Tuesday’s MPR hike with four consecutive negative closes.

“While this may bring about attractive entry points in some counters, we will likely see tepid trading sessions next week as investors continue to trade cautiously.

” However, better than expected Q2 results next week may give the market the necessary positive boost.” Also, a total of 79,914 units of bonds valued at N83 million were traded last week in 31 deals compared to 747,022 units valued at N775 million transacted in 23 deals last week.