In the just concluded week, the domestic
equities market revved amid sustained bargain hunting activity even as (WAPCO) Lafarge Africa Plc and OKOMUOIL posted positive H1 2020 results.
Specifically, the NSE ASI increased by
1.09% week-on-week to 24,693.73 points.
Also, most sub-sector gauges closed in green: the NSE Industrial index, NSE Banking index and the NSE Consumer Goods index rose by 3.63%, 3.03%, and 0.06% to close at 1,146.73 points, 278.60
points and 404.48 points respectively.
However, the NSE Oil/Gas index fell by 6.51% to 170.34 points, while the NSE Insurance index was flat at 122.34 points.
Meanwhile, market activity was lower given the three trading sessions as against five recorded last week.
Hence, total deals, transaction volumes and Naira votes tanked by 29.42%, 68.75% and 63.02% to 11,801 shares, 0.42 billion shares and N5.34 billion respectively.
Lafarge Africa Plc published its H1 2020 financials which showed year-on-year increases in gross earnings and profit after tax by 2.25% and 158.96% respectively.
In the new week, we expect investors to continue to rejig their portfolios by buying shares of companies that post positive results and have sound fundamentals.
Nevertheless, we advise our clients to trade cautiously as we anticipate mixed H1 2020 corporate earnings performance.