Nigeria’s listed equities gained about N486billion in the four-day trading week ended April 22, 2022, thanks to Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods stocks.
The market which defied most analysts’ expectation of sell-pressure trended northward after recording three (3) positive closes and one (1) negative out of the four trading days in the holiday shortened week.
The first-quarter (Q1) results of some listed companies which hit the market in the review week as well as other corporate disclosures helped drive the market’s positive sentiments.
The stock market’s positive return year-to-date (YtD) increased to 13.44percent at the end of the review week’s trading.
Week-on-week (WoW), the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation appreciated by 2percent in the four-day trading week to 48,459.65 points and N26.125trillion respectively from week-open lows of 47,558.45 points and N25.639 trillion.
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While Lagos-based Vetiva analysts in their April 19 note had expected to see profit taking in banking counters in the review week amid preceding week’s record gain, their counterparts at Meristem who in their April 19 stock recommendation noted that with the resumption of dividend markdown on notable tickers had also noted the possibility of a decline in the equities market.
Though, Meristem analysts had expected bargain hunting on the tickers post-markdown “as prices become more attractive.”
“We also note that decent upside exists on tickers across sectors and expect this to spur buying interest in the market. Moreover, we do not see any negative triggers to cause selloffs in the market. Thus, we expect the market to close in the positive this week,” the analysts had said.
