Nigeria Content Online

The Nigerian Stock
Exchange recorded a total gain of N662 billion on equities at the close
of trading activities in January, after the marginal gains of N5
billion in the preceding month.

The market value of
the 217 listed equities, which opened the month at N7.913 trillion,
closed on the last trading day in January at N8.575 trillion,
reflecting a N662 billion gains or 8.37 per cent increase.

The 217 listed
equities accounted for 81.13 per cent of total market capitalisation of
the 264 listed securities which closed January at N10.583 trillion; up
by 6.7 per cent from N9.92 trillion in December.

The Exchange’s
strategy and business development department said the stock market
performance during the first three weeks of January “was very
impressive with the Nigerian market ranking among the world’s best,”
adding that “the fourth week was rather bearish.”

The NSE attributed
the downturn recorded during the fourth week “to the upward review in
the monetary policy rate, profit taking by investors, and the impact of
the regulatory action, which prevented some operators believed to be
undercapitalised from participating in the market.”

Market turnover

The market recorded
a turnover of 10.84 billion shares valued at N104.1 billion in 139,950
deals during January, in contrast to a total of 6.63 billion shares
valued at N56.7 billion exchanged during last December in 111,114
deals. Trading days in January were 20, compared with the 21 days in
December.

Measuring by
turnover volume, the Banking subsector was the most active in January
with traded volume of 8.1 billion shares valued at N76.8 billion, while
the Insurance subsector was second with traded volume of 816.01 million
shares valued at N694.22 million. The Food and Beverages subsector was
third with transaction volume of 408.9 million worth N7.3 million.

A total of 174
equities out of the 217 listed were traded during the month compared
with 173 in December. As in the preceding month, Zenith Bank was the
most active stock with transaction volume of 1.72 billion shares,
followed by First Bank with 1.22 billion shares while FinBank placed
third with 697.12 million shares.

Meanwhile, analysts
at Vetiva Capital Management Limited, a financial service company, said
the market is expected to perform better in the coming months on the
back of quoted companies posting “positive earnings growth induced by
higher profitability and stronger balance sheets.”

They said other
expectations in the market include “investor optimism, barring any
negative surprises on the political front; a post-election rally in the
equities market; increased portfolio flows from developed markets as
investors search for higher returns.”

Bond trading

Over-The-Counter
(OTC) bond market, a turnover of 875.62 million units worth N801.134
billion was recorded in January, in contrast to a total of 465.9
million shares valued at N430.03 billion exchanged during the preceding
month.

The most active
bond, in terms of volume, was the 10.00 per cent Federal Government of
Nigeria (FGN) Bond July 2030 with a traded volume of 218.6 million
units valued at N170.2 billion.

It was followed by
5.50 per cent FGN Feb 2013 with traded volume of 206.9 million units
valued at N194.2 billion. Only 24 of the available 33 FGN Bonds were
traded during the month, same as in the preceding month.