The stock market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) closed on a positive note last week as investors renewed interest in blue chips listed companies.

Amid the bargain hunting activity on the NGX All-Share Index rose week-on-week (W-o-W) by 470.34 basis points or 1.12 per cent to close at 42,353.31 basis points. Similarly, market capitalisation rose by N253 billion W-o-W to close at N21.107 trillion.

Gains in MTN Nigeria by 7.2 per cent, TOTAL Energies Plc that gained 2.4 per cent, and Dagote Cement that appreciated by 1.2 per cent supported the weekly market gain.

Based on the preceding, the stock market in its Month-till-Date (MTD) and Year-till-Date (YtD) return closed at -2.1per cent and +5.2per cent, respectively.

Also, most of the sub-indices tracked closed in green. The NGX Insurance, NGX Consumer Goods and the NGX Industrial indices gained 0.04 per cent, 0.63 per cent and 0.38 per cent to close at 190.93 points, 550.41 points and 2,081.14 points respectively. However, the NGX Banking and the NGX Oil & Gas indices fell by 1.82 per cent and 0.57 per cent to close at 395.38 points and 350.65 points respectively.

The market breadth for the week was positive as 32 equities appreciated in price, 28 equities depreciated in price, while 96 equities remained unchanged. Meyer Plc led the gainers table by 27.27 per cent to close at 42 kobo, per share. ROYAL Exchange followed with a gain of 15.00 per cent to close at 69 kobo, while FTN Cocoa Processors went up by 13.51 per cent to close to 42 kobo, per share.

On the other side, Champion Breweries led the decliners table by 13.65 per cent to close at N2.34, per share. UPDC followed with a loss of 10.17 per cent to close at N1.06, while e-Tranzact International declined by 9.57 per cent to close at N1.89, per share.

Overall, a total turnover of 1.317 billion shares worth N15.330 billion in 18,292 deals were traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 2.630 billion shares valued at N26.900 billion that exchanged hands previous week in 20,848 deals.

The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 899.768 million shares valued at N7.325 billion traded in 9,326 deals; contributing 68.32 per cent and 47.78 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Consumer Goods Industry followed with 209.502 million shares worth N2.796 billion in 2,866 deals, while the Conglomerates Industry traded a turnover of 93.813 million shares worth N663.135 million in 485 deals.

Trading in the top three equities; FBN Holdings (FBNH), International Breweries and Access Bank (measured by volume) accounted for 469.879 million shares worth N4.170 billion in 1,958 deals, contributing 35.68 per cent and 27.20 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Capital market analysts had projected the market to close positive this week, ahead of the Santa Claus and year-end rally.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited stated that “This trading week, we expect the market to extend last week’s positive performance, driven by bargain purchase as investors continue to review their portfolio for the next year.”

In the new week, analysts at Cowry Assets Management Limited expected the local stock market to be bullish ahead of the usual Santa Clause rally and corporate actions.

Also, Cordros Securities Limited expected market performance to be dominated by the bulls in the week ahead, as positioning by early birds in dividend-paying stocks ahead of 2021 full year dividend declarations should outweigh profit-taking activities.

“Notwithstanding, we reiterate the need for positioning in only fundamentally sound stocks as the weak macro environment remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings,” it stated.