On paper, the benchmark index of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); the All-Share Index (NSE ASI) closed the week 0.08% lower than it started it, but in reality the market index would have advanced were it not for the price adjustments for the major tier 1 bank’s interim dividends.
On Wednesday, 16 September, the share prices of 3 banks were adjusted to account of their interim dividends. GUARANTY was adjusted to N24.85, from its last closing price of N25.15 for the 30 kobo interim dividend declared by the bank for the half year period ended 30 June, 2020.
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UBA’s price was adjusted to N5.98 from N61.5 accounting for its 17 kobo interim dividend for the half year period, while STANBIC’s price was adjusted to N39.10 from N39.50 to account for 40 kobo interim dividend for the same period.
On Thursday, 17 September, it was the turn of ZENITHBANK along with HONYFLOUR, as both had their prices adjusted from N17.00 to N16.70 to account for 30 kobo interim dividend for the half year, and from N0.96 to N0.92 to account for full year dividend of 4 kobo respectively.
On Friday, 18 September, ACCESS had its share price adjustment from N6.60 to N6.35, in view of the 25 kobo interim dividend declared by the board for the half year period ended 30 June, 2020.
The market capitalization rose by 0.10% in the week as N13.609 billion was added to it, to bring it up to N13.364 trillion as at the end of trading on Friday. The opposite direction of the market capitalization to that of the market index was because of the admission of 601,030,210 ordinary shares of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc to trade at the NSE on Wednesday, 16 September 2020.
The activity level for the week was mixed as the volume of shares traded declined by 7.09%, while the value of shares traded increased by 17.06%.
A total turnover of 1.139 billion shares worth N12.692 billion in 17,109 deals were traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.226 billion shares valued at N10.842 billion that exchanged hands last week in 19,529 deals.
The Financial Services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 870.300 million shares valued at N7.863 billion traded in 9,427 deals; thus contributing 76.43% and 61.95% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Industrial Goods industry followed with 62.689 million shares worth N1.162 billion in 1,557 deals. The third place was the ICT industry, with a turnover of 50.859 million shares worth N2.552 billion in 619 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely FBN Holdings Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Access Bank Plc. (measured by volume) accounted for 353.048 million shares worth N4.018 billion in 3,095 deals, contributing 31.00% and 31.66% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The activity chart remained as it was coming into the week, neither volume nor value of shares traded showing an indication of movement in any direction.
At the end of trading on Friday, 18th September, the NSE ASI was down by 4.73%. The YTD Performances of the 5 indices under our watch are;
- Insurance Index: +6.60%
- Industrial Goods Index: +5.41%
- Banking Index: -18.17%
- Oil & Gas Index: -27.71%
- Consumer Goods Index: -27.00%
3 out of the 5 indices closed the week in positive territory, while 2 declined. The Industrial Goods Index advanced by 0.50%, the Consumer Goods Index increased by 0.13%, while 0.01% was recorded by the Insurance Index.
The Banking Index declined by 0.67%, and Oil & Gas index declined by -1.03%.
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 1.03x from the 0.60x recorded last week .
Thirty-two (32) equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than Twenty three (23) equities in the previous week. Thirty-one (31) equities depreciated in price, lower than Thirty-eight (38) equities in the previous week, while one hundred (100) equities remained unchanged, lower than one hundred and two (102) equities recorded in the previous week.
Top gainers and losers table;
Source: Nigerian Stock Exchange Weekly Market Report
The Week ahead
With no major market mover on the horizon, bargain hunting and profit taking will dominate market activity in the coming week.
TRANSCORP is our only stock to watch in the week ahead, as the Board of Directors meet on Tuesday to consider what the company termed “price sensitive” issues.
Written by;
Nnamdi M.
