The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) kicked off the first trading week of 2022 on a positive note as its market capitalisation gained N1.33 trillion. This followed foreign investors’ and high net worth investors’ demand for Airtel Africa Plc, BUA Foods, Lafarge Africa Plc, and FBN Holdings Plc, which pushed market capitalisation to N23.628 trillion from the N22.296 trillion the stock market opened with trading on the first day.

Notably, the demand for Airtel Africa gained 10 per cent to close at N1,050.50; bargain hunting in BUA Foods appreciated by 9.9 per cent to close at N53.20; Lafarge Africa gained 7.7 per cent to close at N25.80; and FBN Holdings added four per cent to close at N11.85, and spurred the weekly gain.

The stock market benchmark, the NGX All-Share Index, also advanced by 2.7 per cent on its Week-on-Week (WoW) performance to close at 43,854.42 basis points, from the 42,716.44 basis points it closed in 2021.

Despite trading four days in the week as the federal government had declared last Monday a public holiday to mark the new year celebration, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NGX Premium, NGX insurance, NGX AFR Div Yield, NGX Meri Growth, NGX Consumer Goods, NGX Lotus II Indices, which depreciated by 0.47per cent, 0.93 per cent, 0.97 per cent, 0.66 per cent, 0.87 per cent, and 0.12 per cent, respectively, while the NGX ASeM and NGX Sovereign bond indices closed flat.

Activity levels were strong, as trading volume and value surged by 103.7per cent w/w and 246.8per cent w/w, respectively.

Meanwhile, a total turnover of 2.027 billion shares worth N59.014 billion in 15,750 deals were traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 995.361 million shares valued at N13.209 billion that exchanged hands prior week’s 10,264 deals.

The Consumer Goods Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.255 billion shares valued at N 51.973 billion traded in 2,581deals; thus contributing 61.90per cent and 88.07per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The Financial Services Industry followed with 537.959 million shares worth N4.627 billion in 8,015 deals. The third place was The ICT Industry, with a turnover of 76.906 million shares worth N704.346 million in 933 deals.

Trading in the top three equities namely BUA Foods, Wema Bank Plc, and Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 1.349 billion shares worth N51.253 billion in 1,120 deals, contributing 67 per cent and 86.85 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

According to analysts at Cordros capital,

In the near term, we believe positioning for 2021FY dividends will continue to support buying activities in the market even as institutional investors continue to search for clues on the direction of yields in the FI market.

However, we advise investors to take positions in only fundamentally justified stocks as the weak macro environment remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.

Analysts also believe that the early passage of the 2022 budget would be positive for the stock market.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.