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Stock market closes flat

Why windfall tax should not dampen investor appetite for bank stocks

Nigeria’s stock market could not make remarkable upward or downward shift on Tuesday as investors failed to increase holdings on fundamentally sound stocks with improved valuation and dividend yield while the sell-side of the Bourse was also calm.

The flat close on Tuesday comes amid post-election uncertainties and a depressed interest rate environment, particularly at the short end of the curve.

“As we wrote in our year-ahead outlook, Nigerian general elections tend to be inflection points for Nigeria’s financial markets. What does the victory of the All Progressives Congress in last week’s presidential elections imply? The APC’s election manifesto calls for growth, and growth is to be provided by a high level of public expenditure,” said analysts at Coronation Research in their March 7 note to investors.

Read also: Lafarge: Market seen reacting positively to 2022 results

The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation closed relatively flat (0.00percent) on Tuesday March 7 from preceding day 55,605.57 points and N30.291trillion respectively to 55,603.94 points and N30.290trillion. The value of listed stocks decreased by just N1billion. The market’s year-to-date (YtD) return has increased to 8.49percent.

Transcorp, Zenith Bank, GTCO, UBA and Fidelity Bank were top-5 traded stocks on Tuesday as investors in 4,187 deals exchanged 159,460,465 shares valued at N2.475billion.

After impressive two months, FBNQuest Capital research analysts in their March 7 note to investors said they expect an even better performance by the NGX post the general elections, “particularly after the transfer of power to the new administration. We anticipate a return of circa 15percent for the domestic equity market in 2023”.

Iheanyi Nwachukwu, is a creative content writer with over 18 years journalism experience writing on banking, finance and capital markets. The multiple awards winning journalist is Assistant Editor, BusinessDay. Iheanyi holds BSc Degree in Economics from Imo State University; Master of Science (MSc) Degree in Management from University of Lagos. Iheanyi has attended several work-related trainings including (i) Advanced Writing and Reporting Skills (Pan African University, Lagos); (ii) News Agency Journalism (Indian Institute of Mass Communication {IIMC}, New Delhi, India); and (iii) Capital Markets Development and Regulations (International Law Institute {ILI} of Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA).

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