Nigeria’s equities market opened this new week on a slightly negative note, decreasing by 0.01percent or N3billion as investors in a wait-and-see mood consider taking profit from counters that have rallied recently. The Nigerian equities market year-to-date (YtD) return stood lower at 8.86percent.
The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation moved slightly lower from preceding trading day’s 55,794.51 points and N30.394trillion respectively to 55,788.37 points and N30.391trillion.
NGX Group, Transcorp, Sterling Bank, Zenith Bank and UBA were top-5 actively traded stocks on the Nigerian Exchange Limited. In 4,296 deals, investors exchanged 179,028,155 shares valued at N2.547billion.
Fidson Healthcare Plc’s Series 4 Commercial Paper (CP) issuance of up to N3.50billion under its N10billion Commercial Paper programme is open and scheduled to close Thursday, March 16, 2023. The proceed of the issue will be used to support Fidson Healthcare’s short-term working capital and funding requirement.
Read also: Here’re what NGX Group told investors, analysts
Meristem research analysts in their March 13 note to investors said, “We posit that the market is ripe for correction following consecutive weeks of gains.”
“Furthermore, market breadth declined to 0.64x (vs 2.25x the previous week) which resulted from more profit taking than bargain-hunting. We expect profit taking activity on tickers that have appreciated to persist as the hunt for dividend gradually dissipates. Barring any bargain hunting on bellwether tickers and corporate disclosures that may have significant impact on buying sentiments, we expect the market to close in the negative this week,” Meristem research analysts added.
Also, in their investment views, United Capital research analysts said, “This week, we expect the depressed interest rate environment to continue to favour the equities market in line with our expectations for first-quarter (Q1) 2023. We believe that taking positions in stocks with solid valuations and dividend yields ahead of the dividend-paying season is a good strategy. However, we note that there may be profit-taking activities from the extended rallies”.
