Equity market snaps losing streak in November, closes month in positive

Nigeria’s equity market represented by the All Share Index snapped a 5-month losing streak to close the month of November with a gain of 8.72%.

After getting to a record low in October, the market is now on a recovery path having suffered a massive price correction on Airtel in the month of October as investors rebalance their portfolio ahead of the year-end.

Stocks closed the month of November on a bullish run as the NGX All-Share Index and Market Capitalization appreciated by 8.72% to close the month at 47,660.04 and N25.959 trillion respectively.

This is despite several negative headwinds coming into November, with stocks having tanked 10% in October.

The ASI rose to as high as 54.085.30 on May 27 2022 but has since in the past six months dropped by 6,425.26 basis points or 11.88%.

Data from NGX showed that activities on the Nigerian Exchange which opened the month at N23.877 trillion in market capitalisation and 43,839.08 in the index at the beginning of trading on November 1, 2022.

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It, however, closed on November 31, 2022, at N25.959 trillion and 47,660.04 index points, hence has earned a month-to-date gain of about N2.082 trillion or 8.72%.

Further analysis showed that the NGX Industrial Index led with 13.16% terms of growth in November to 2,137.21 points from 1,888.51 points it opened for trading during the month.

The Banking Index followed with a growth of 5.79% to 396.71 points from 375.01 points it opened for trading in November.

Despite the perception that pre-election years are usually characterized by negative sentiments which also results in the exit of foreign investors, market experts believe that crave for institutional investors to rebalance the structure of their portfolio towards the end of the year and CBN’s policy to redesign the Naira are some of the major factors propelling the equities market on the green trajectory.

According to David Adonri, Executive Vice Chairman, Hicap Securities Limited, the only thing one could tie to the rising prices of equities may be the CBN’s policy to redesign the Naira. There might be some inflow of funds into the equity market as a result of the policy decision.

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“However, for the first two trading days this week, the equity market declined, which may be a reaction to the hike in interest rate, but today, the market bounced back. This is due to the end-of-the-month effect which means that portfolio managers usually buy more shares at the end of every month to rebalance their portfolios.

Nigerian All Share Index is up 8.72% YTD, despite being on a 5-month losing streak coming into November. Stocks are likely to close the year on a positive note.

This is also the 4th straight year that stocks have turned positive in November.