Nigerian Equities Market Closes H1’23 in the Green, NGX All-Share Index Up 298bps.

The Local Bourse closed H1’2023 in the positive territory, as the NGX All-share Index & Market Capitalization appreciated by 2.98% to close at 60,968.27 points and N33.20 trillion from 59,206.63 points and N32.24 trillion respectively. Year-to-Date return stood at 18.96% and 18.93% respectively.

However, Market breadth weakened in the just concluded week by -26.33% to close at 1.31x from 1.77x. Consequently, 59 stocks depreciated against 77 stocks that appreciated in share prices.  IKEJAHOTEL and NSLTECH changed by 33.00% and -13.16% to top the gainers and losers chart WoW, respectively.

The activity level weakened as the total traded shares volume and value decreased by 31.31% and -1.05% respectively. A total turnover of 2.314 billion shares worth N41.547 billion in 28,095 deals was traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 3.369 billion shares valued at N41.986 billion that exchanged hands last week in 39,764 deals.

Trading in the top three equities namely Access Holdings Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, and Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 844.596 million shares worth N16.302 billion in 5,493 deals, contributing 36.49% and 39.24% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Outlook for the week

We expect the equities market to continue to rally as investors continue to leverage on the ‘investors-friendly’ stance of the Fed Gov, and increased liquidity in the economy on the back of FX liberalization.

Nigerian Fixed Income Market

The bond yield curve sloped last week, except 1-year bond, which advanced by 0.68% to close at 7.98%.  The yield on the 3-year and 5-year, 10-year, and 30-year papers compressed by -1.99%, -1.59%, -0.55%, and -0.91% respectively, to close at 10.21%, 11.81%, 14.06%, and 14.69% respectively.

The secondary market for Nigerian Treasury Bills exhibited similarly. The yield on the 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day papers declined by 1bp each.

In the Money Market space, the Open Repo (OPR) went down by -7.47 to close at 1.36 from 8.83% Wow, while Overnight rates decrease by -6.86 to close at 2.14 from 9.00% Wow.

Outlook for the week

We expect the yield on fixed income to compress, especially on long-dated bonds due to rising interest rates.

Global and African Market

The global market exhibited a positive outing this week as all the six indices under coverage closed bullish, on improving global economic activities.

African Market experienced mixed sentiment as two of the four indices under coverage appreciated, while two also went down WoW. The NGX ASI and S’A JALSH point northwards by 2.98% and 2.27% respectively, while EGX 30 and KENYA NSE, rose by 0.27% and 0.22% WoW, respectively.

Outlook for the week

Market activities would likely trade mixed this week, as investors’ confidence restores gradually.