Afrinvest Weekly Update | NGX off to a Bullish Start… ASI up 6.5% w/w

An Extraction of the Afrinvest Weekly Economic & Market Report for January 5, 2024

Photo Credit: NGX

The domestic bourse closed the first trading week of the year on a positive note, as the NGX-ASI rallied 6.5% w/w to close at 79,664.66 points. As such, YTD return printed at 6.5% while market capitalisation increased ₦2.7tn to ₦43.6tn. Activity level was mixed as average volume traded surged 109.9% w/w to 830.1m units while average value traded declined 0.3% w/w to ₦10.4bn. FIDELITYBK (310.8m units), FCMB (257.6m units), and TRANSCORP (191.8m units) were the top traded stocks by volume for the week, while UBA (₦4.2bn), FIDELITYBK (₦4.0bn), and ZENITHBANK (₦3.3bn) led by value.

Across our coverage sectors, the bulls dominated proceedings as all six indices gained. Leading the gainers, the Banking and Insurance indices advanced 14.0% and 10.3% w/w respectively on the back of buying interest in STERLINGNG (+34.5%), FCMB (+31.8%), LINKASSU (+43.8%) and AIICO (+43.8%). Trailing, the AFR-ICT and Consumer Goods indices rose 6.8% and 4.4% w/w respectively due to price appreciation in OMATEK (+18.4%), MTNN (+8.0%), DANGSUGAR (+14.0%) and NASCON (+11.3%). Similarly, the Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indices advanced 3.6% and 3.0% w/w respectively, supported by gains in BERGER (+10.0%), WAPCO (+10.0%), ETERNA (+19.1%) and CONOIL (+13.2%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth improved to 1.4x from 0.6x in the prior week, as 87 stocks gained, 16 lost while 49 closed flat. TRANSCORP (+46.2%), IKEJAHOT (+46.2%), and UNITYBNK (+45.1%) led the top gainers while SCOA (-17.7%), CHAMPION (-11.8%) and CADBURY (-11.8%) led the decliners. Next week, we anticipate an extended positive performance on the bourse, buoyed by strong investor sentiment.