In the just concluded week, sentiment was
broadly positive as bullish trading dominated the market.
Notably, bargain hunting on blue- chip stocks such as SEPLAT, DANGCEM and ZENITHBANK buoyed market performance. Resultant of this effect, the NSE ASI advanced week-on week by 1.11% to close at 39,156.28 points while the YTD loss of the NSE ASI moderated to – 2.77%.
Sectoral performance across sub-
sector gauges tracked was positive as four
out of the five indices tracked closed in the green zone; the NSE Banking, NSE Consumer Goods, NSE Oil/Gas and the NSE Industrial indices rose by 0.89%, 1.06%, 1.37% and 2.36% to close at 358.61 points, 199.42 points, 310.95 points and 1,952.38 points respectively.
On the flip side, the NSE Insurance index rose by 2.36% to 1,952.38 points.
Meanwhile, trading activity was mixed as total deals and volume of stocks traded fell by 0.44% and 2.33% to 17,854 deals and 1.05 billion units respectively; albeit the value of stocks traded rose to N12.38 billion respectively.
In the new week, we expect the equities market to trade positively as investors position in stocks of companies which are expected to pay interim dividends and which have good fundamentals.
Also, we have seen the stop rates at the money market remain relatively flat; further moderation in that space may trigger buy sentiment in equities market.