By Taofik Salako, Deputy Group Business Editor
Nigerian equities rode on the back of global optimism and domestic bargain-hunting to close weekend with net capital gain of N390 billion, regaining the upswing after profit-taking transactions ended eight weeks of consecutive price appreciation.
Benchmark indices for the Nigerian equities market at the weekend indicated average return of 2.19 per cent for the week, equivalent to net capital gain of N390 billion. The average performance of the Nigerian stocks was generally within the top level of global rally, as investors reacted positively to straightening political transition in the United States of America (USA) and improving hopes of COVID-19 vaccines.
Key global trackers showed a generally positive sentiment across the markets. In USA, Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose by 2.1 per cent. United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 posted modest gain of 0.2 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 recorded average gain of 4.4 per cent while China’s SSE Index appreciated by 0.7 per cent. The MSCI EM Index- which tracks emerging markets, indicated average return of 1.1 per cent while its twin indicator, MSCI FM Index- which tracks Nigeria and other frontier markets, rose by 1.2 per cent.
The All Share Index (ASI)- the common value-based index that tracks all share prices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed weekend at 34,885.51 points as against the week’s opening index of 34,136.82 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities at the NSE also rose correspondingly from the week’s opening value of N17.838 trillion to close weekend at N18.228 trillion.
The rally nudged the average year-to-date return to 29.97 per cent, effectively putting equities as positive inflation-adjusted assets.
With 27 advancers to 43 decliners, sectoral price analysis still showed considerable underlying profit-taking across the sectors. The positive overall market position was driven largely by gains in the large-cap cement and industrial goods sector. The NSE Industrial Goods Index rose by 4.4 per cent. The NSE 30 Index- which tracks 30 largest companies, including major cement companies in the industrial goods sector, rose by 1.31 per cent. This partly reflected the decline suffered by the influential banking sector, which posted negative average return of -1.31 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index also dropped by 0.50 per cent. Meanwhile, the NSE Oil and Gas Index appreciated by 0.64 per cent while the NSE Insurance Index rose by 0.28 per cent.
The momentum of activities however slowed down as total turnover dropped […]