Nigerian stock market seems to be moving in opposite direction from world markets.
This is as, the Nigerian market rose from a string of losses in two months to a bullish run in May, rising by 6.4 per cent, while the world index snapped from a three month gain to a bearish May, losing 1.3 per cent in its index.
Following two months of sustained losses on the domestic bourse, the equity market rose 6.4 per cent month-on-month (m/m) in May to 55,769.28 points.
“In part, the performance of the market was buoyed by a late rally towards the end of the month due to the opportunities presented by previous price corrections, and market reacting positively to critical reforms promised during the inaugural speech by President Bola Tinubu on May 29th’ said analysts at Afrinvest.
Consequently, Year to Date (YTD) return of the market rose to 8.8 per cent against 2.2 per cent the prior month while market capitalisation advanced N1.8 trillion to N30.3 trillion.
Trading activity for the month was mixed as average volume traded fell 44.4 per cent m/m to 592.7 million while average value traded rose 43.8 per cent m/m to N7.5 trillion.
The top traded stocks by volume for the month were ACCESSCORP (1.1 billion units), UBA (1.1 billion units), and FIDELITY (0.5 billion units), in contrast SEPLAT (M29.4 billion), GTCO (N13.6 billion), and ACCESSCORP (N12.1 billion) led the value chart for the month.
On the global scene during the month of May, the global equities space slipped into negative territory for the first time in three months as the MSCI World Index declined by 1.3 per cent m/m. The broad performance masked divergent outcomes across bourses, propelled by a flurry of economic data releases and policy responses that accentuated specific risks and upsides across the different markets. Nonetheless, there were common themes of inflationary pressure, monetary policy trajectory, heightening fiscal risks, and economic growth concerns that dominated across regions.
During the period, the price of Brent crude futures dipped 9.6 per cent m/m to $72.66/bbl due to a combination of stronger dollar showing in the month and contracted manufacturing activity in China (PMI fell to 48.8 points from 49.2 points in May).
On the home front, Nigeria’s foreign reserves dipped 24bps ($82.5 million) m/m to print at $34.3 billion (30/03/2023).
In May, system liquidity waned by 66.7 per cent to print at N137.0 billion as strings of PMA (N324.4 hillion) outweighed inflows from maturities worth N319.9 billion.
Consequently, OPR and OVN rates increased by 5.9 per cent and 5.4 per cent to 18.5 per cent and 18.6 per cent respectively.
