Equities Expected To Remain Positive Amid Strong Investor Confidence

Capital market analysts have predicted that the Nigerian equities market will remain broadly positive this week, driven by strong investor confidence and trading activity. However, intermittent profit-taking could trigger mild pullbacks.

The market closed last week firmly in positive territory, extending its upward momentum as stronger investor confidence and heightened trading activity pushed prices higher.

This week, Cowry Assets Management Limited said, “market sentiment is expected to remain broadly positive, underpinned by strong investor confidence and heightened trading activity.

“However, following such a sharp weekly advancement, intermittent profit-taking could trigger mild pullbacks. Even so, the underlying tone remains bullish, with investors likely to become more selective and tilt toward fundamentally sound counters as the rally matures. We continue to advise investors to position in fundamentally sound stocks.”

Afrinvest Limited added that “this week, we expect the market dynamics to remain bullish in the absence of any negative triggers while we await the outcome of the MPC meeting.”

For last week, the NGX All-Share Index advanced 6.95 per cent week-on-week to close at 194,989.77 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation sold by N8.14 trillion to close the week at N125.164 trillion.

Market breadth remained firmly positive, with 71 stocks recording gains against 41 decliners, signalling widespread buying momentum across counters. Zichis Agro Allied Industries led the gainers’ table, rising 60.74 per cent to close at N17.36 per share. Japaul Gold & Ventures followed with a gain of 60.16 per cent to close at N14.90, while Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank went up by 59.09 per cent to close at N15.75 per share.

On the other side, R.T. Briscoe led the decliners table by 20.78 per cent to close at N13.80 per share. MeCure Industries followed with a loss of 18.99 per cent to close at N84.25, while Tripple Gee and Company declined by 18.80 per cent to close at N5.40 per share.

Overall, a total of 7.662 billion shares, valued at N252.566 billion, were traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 4.652 billion shares valued at N193.326 billion that exchanged hands the prior week in 286,751 deals.

The Financial Services Industry led the activity chart, with 5.625 billion shares valued at N113.599 billion traded in 129,729 deals, contributing 73.41 per cent and 44.98 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.

The Services Industry followed with 493.131 million shares worth N5.866 billion in 30,396 deals, while the Oil and Gas Industry pulled a turnover of 425.657 million shares worth N35.742 billion in 23,136 deals.

Trading in the top equities, namely FCMB Group, Access Holdings and Zenith Bank, accounted for 3.594 billion shares worth N69.147 billion in 33,802 deals, contributing 46.90 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and 27.38 per cent to the total equity turnover value.