Nigeria, Ghana, Turkiye, lead global equities’ returns
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Nigerian equities rode on the back of renewed rally at the weekend to emerge the world’s second best-performing stock market, scaling up from the previous third position on the global ranking.
Global stock data tracked by The Nation’s Market Intelligence at the weekend indicated that the African markets dominated the world’s top 10 best-performing markets, with Ghana leading with average year-to-date return of 39.8 per cent.
Nigeria, which recorded a gain of 0.21 per cent return on a turnover of N45.9 billion last week, closed weekend with average return of 31.68 per cent, the second best-performing return globally. Turkiye, which had led the global chart earlier, placed third with average return of 29.9 per cent so far this year.The data included the most prominent stock markets and cut across the various tiers of advanced, emerging and frontier markets. These included United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, France, Hong Kong, Russia, India, Brazil, China, Thailand, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates (UAE). African markets included Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Morocco, Ghana, Egypt and Mauritius.Ghana’s GSE Composite Index indicated average return of 39.8 per cent. Nigeria’s benchmark All Share Index (ASI) trailed with average return of 31.68 per cent. Turkiye’s BIST 100 Index followed with 29.9 per cent. Egypt placed fourth with the EGX 30 Index returning 25.6 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index posted average return of 21.0 per cent. United States’ twin indices S & P 500 and Nasdaq Index recorded average return of 20.6 per cent and 21.1 per cent respectively.
Other top-10 returns included Morocco’s Casablanca Masi Index, 19.3 per cent; Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index, 19.0 per cent; India’s BSE Sens Index, 18.5 per cent and Kenya’s Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) 20 Index, which posted average return of 18.4 per cent.
Other major gainers included Germany’s Xetra DAX, 16.1 per cent; South Africa’s JSE/FTSE ASI, with average return of 14.1 per cent and Mauritius’ SEMDEX Index, with 15.1 per cent.
Meanwhile, United Kingdom’s FTSE All Share Index recorded average return of 7.7 per cent. France posted modest gain of 3.3 per cent. China recorded average gain of 3.8 per cent while Thailand and Saudi Arabia recorded average gain of 2.4 per cent and 3.4 per cent respectively.However, Russia’s RTS Index recorded the highest loss of 11.0 per cent among the tracked markets. It was followed by Qatar’s DSM 20 Index, which dropped by 2.3 per cent. United Arab Emirates’s ADX General Index declined by 1.1 per cent while Brazil’s Ibovespa slipped by 0.4 per cent.
Nigeria’s benchmark index, the All Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), is a common value-based index and it tracks all share prices at the Exchange, a feature shared with benchmark indices of United Kingdom, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and UAE among others. Most other indices are selective indices, tracking a basket of stocks, although mostly representative of their markets.
Breakdown of sectoral indices showed market-wide positive outlook with average returns in many sectors significantly above the market’s benchmark average return. The NGX Oil and Gas Index led the sectors with average year-to-date return of 90.87 per cent. The NGX Industrial Goods Index followed with above average return of 41.87 per cent. The NGX Consumer Goods Index placed third with 39.56 per cent. The NGX Insurance Index trailed with 30.95 per cent while the NGX Banking Index recorded modest gain of 4.08 per cent.
Underlining the performance of selective fund managers, the NGX Pension Index and NGX Pension Board Index, which tracks equities specially screened for pension funds’ investments, recorded average return of 23.17 per cent and 31.29 per cent respectively. The NGX Lotus Islamic Index, which tracks stocks that comply with the principles of Islamic finance, posted above-average return of 32.16 per cent. The NGX 30 Index, which tracks the 30 largest companies at the stock market, recorded average gain of 31.29 per cent, underlining the significant capital appreciation by large-cap stocks.
The ASI closed weekend at 98,458.68 points with aggregate market value of all quoted equities at the NGX standing at N56.578 trillion.
Total turnover at the NGX last week stood at 3.318 billion shares worth N45.911 billion in 49,243 deals, compared with a total of 1.860 billion shares valued at N38.445 billion traded in 40,228 deals two weeks ago.
The financial services industry led the activity chart with 1.430 billion shares valued at N23.659 billion traded in 22,745 deals; thus contributing 43.09 per cent and 51.53 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The oil and gas sector followed with 703.389 million shares worth N7.323 billion in 6,207 deals while the healthcare industry placed third with a turnover of 411.489 million shares worth N2.896 billion in 827 deals.The three most active stocks were Japaul Gold & Ventures Plc, Mecure Industries Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc, which altogether accounted for 1.363 billion shares worth N9.472 billion in 4,050 deals, contributing 41.06 per cent and 20.63 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
