In four months to April 30, 2021, about 32.9billion units of equities were traded on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by only ten stockbroking firms.
This volume of stocks exchanged represents 44.68percent of the equities exchanged on the Bourse in the review period, according to Exchange’s Broker Performance Report.
Top on the list is Cardinalstone Securities Limited which traded 5.966billion units or 8.08percent, followed by Morgan Capital Securities Limited (4.908billion or 6.65percent), and Meristem Stockbrokers Limited (4.120billion or 5.58percent).
In the review four months period to April 30, Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers Limited exchanged 4.041billion units which represent 5.48percent of the total volume of stocks exchanged in the market that period; while Atlass Portfolios Limited accounted for 3.533billion units or 4.79percent.
The broker performance report also shows that GTI Securities Limited traded 3.031billion units or 4.11percent, Lighthouse Capital Limited (2.160billion or 2.93percent), Greenwich Trust Limited (1.992billion or 2.70percent), WSTC Securities Limited (1.666 percent or 2.26percent), while Inter State Securities Limited (1.555billion or 2.11percent).
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The market had picked up in the last trading week in April following the bullish reaction to the series of first-quarter (Q1) earnings reported by listed companies. Disappointingly, in the holiday shortened week ended May 7, the market’s All Share Index (ASI) decreased by 1.61percent from 39,834.42 points to 39,198.75 points amid three (3) days of losses as only Friday’s gain (+0.21percent) could not stop the week’s negative close. Equities value printed lower at N20.431billion from week open high of N20.847trillion, representing a loss of about N416billion.
Barely one week into the month of May, the record three-day negative closes on the Nigerian Bourse which triggered the 1.61 percent dip month-to-date and 2.66percent decline this year implies that market participants against some analysts’ expectations have not bought the dip on attractive counters seen trading at discounted valuations as rising fixed income (FI) yields continue to weigh on investor sentiment.
“First-quarter corporate results released so far have been broadly impressive across most sectors – including the agriculture, consumer and industrial goods sectors”, said Meristem analysts in their May 4 stock recommendation They had expected positive investor sentiments as observed over the past two weeks to linger into the week that just ended (though in red).
