Dividend Stocks In Focus As Investors Seek Stability

Capital market analysts have projected that high-quality dividend-paying stocks will drive the Nigerian equities market this week, as investors seek stability.

For this week, Cowry Assets Management Limited said, “market performance is expected to remain mixed as investors continue to rebalance their portfolios and take profits in recently appreciated stocks. However, selective buying interest in fundamentally sound companies and dividend-paying stocks could provide some support to the market. Overall, trading activity is likely to remain cautious as investors monitor macroeconomic developments and corporate earnings expectations.”

Afrinvest Limited expected the market to remain mildly bullish this week, supported by selective institutional buying, though intermittent profit-taking could lead to short-term volatility.

Stock market trading for last week closed on a bullish note as the NGX All-Share Index recorded 0.73 per cent week-on-week gain to close at 198,407.30 points. Consequently, market capitalisation rose by N923 billion to close the week at N127.361 trillion.

Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth closed positive as 34 stocks gained, 44 lost, while 61 remained unchanged. Premier Paints led the gainers’ table by 32.88 per cent to close at N19.40 per share. Conoil followed with a gain of 20.95 per cent to close at N204.40, while BUA Cement went up by 20 per cent to close at N270.00 per share.

On the other side, SCOA Nigeria led the decliners table by 34.06 per cent to close at N22.65 per share. Fortis Global Insurance followed with a loss of 20.81 per cent to close at N1.18, while Sovereign Trust Insurance declined by 20.68 per cent to close at N2.11 per share.

Meanwhile, a total turnover of 3.321 billion shares worth N164.845 billion in 318,907 deals was traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 3.695 billion shares valued at N177.687 billion that exchanged hands last week in 370,980 deals.

The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart, with 2.179 billion shares valued at N59.809 billion traded in 124,992 deals, contributing 65.61 per cent and 36.28 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.

The Oil and Gas Industry followed with 207.690 million shares worth N27.606 billion in 32,820 deals, while the Consumer Goods Industry pulled a turnover of 189.633 million shares worth N11.852 billion in 34,288 deals.

Trading in the top equities, Access Holdings, Fortis Global Insurance and First Holdco accounted for 677.312 million shares worth N14.561 billion in 17,346 deals, contributing 20.39 per cent and 8.83 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.