Since the beginning of the year, the equities market has witnessed an unprecedented rally and buying interest across sectors, especially in the financial services, consumer and industrial goods sub-sectors, which has continued to trigger massive bargain hunting in large company shares, pushing the key performance indices and stimulating activities in the market.
Recall that market capitalisation rose by N5 trillion in the first half of the year, causing the NGX to hit a 16-year high for the first time since 2008, to close at 60, 108.86 on Tuesday, June 27, 2023. It opened the year at 51,251.06 on January 3, implying an increase of 8,857.8 points or 15 per cent.
For instance, Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Holding Company declared an interim dividend of 50 kobo each, amounting to N15.698 billion and N14.72 billion, respectively, up from N9.42 billion and N8.83 billion interim dividends paid within the same period in 2022. Transnational Corporation of Nigeria garnered a 173 per cent gain while Cadbury and PZ Cussons Nigeria also returned with 50 per cent and 49 per cent gain.
They added that the broad NGX year-to-date return has shown market resilience to pounding inflation, explaining sustained investor equities market interest. “We note that discerning investors have continued to target fundamentally sound companies and defensive stocks to protect their portfolios. As such, investors should take advantage of price rally to take profit, while also looking at the trends and events across the globe and domestically.”FMDQ Securities Exchange's total turnover in the Foreign Exchange Spot and Derivatives markets stood at $472.49 million last week. The figure represents a fall of 26.52 per cent from $643.