Small cap stocks beat others to record 52-week gain

The value of largely capitalised stocks at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) declined by 20.75% to N6.02trillion in the 52-week to March 31, 2016. In this same period, small cap stocks value rose by 1.55% to N732.41billion according to the NSE first-quarter (Q1) 2016 ‘Fact Sheet’.

Also, between April 2015 and March 2016 period, the value of mid cap stocks declined by 18.53 percent to N1.97trillion.

In the 52-week period, the total market capitalisation declined 2.28% to N15.88trillion ($80.16bn); equities market capitalisation declined by 18.76% to N8.71trillion ($43.98bn); while bonds market capitalisation rose by 29.75% to N7.16trillion ($36.16bn).   

Average daily volume (Q1) stood high at 563.53 million, up by 34.70%; Average daily value traded (Q1) declined to N2.41 billion ($12.16million), down 46.50%; while the average daily transactions (Q1) dropped by 22.31% to 3,276.   The NSE has 12 indices that track market and sector performance; they consist of the NSE All Share Index (ASI), the NSE 30 Index, the NSE Pension Index, the NSE Banking Index, the NSE Consumer Goods Index, the NSE Industrial Index, the NSE Insurance Index, the NSE Oil and Gas Index, the NSE Lotus Islamic Index, the NSE Premium Board Index, the NSE Main Board Index and the NSE ASeM Index.  The main index is the NSE 30 Index.

In the first-quarter period, NSE 30 Index declined to 1108.60 points, down 23.60%; NSE All Share Index declined to 25,306.22 points, down 20.28%; NSE Pension Index also declined to 694.03 points, down 29.87%.

The NSE Lotus Islamic Index dipped by 14.48% to 1,772.18 points; NSE Banking Index recorded the highest Q1 dip by 40.83percent to 215.47 points; while NSE Consumer Goods Index also stood 23.50% lower to 615.49 points.

The Insurance Index declined by 12.15% to 127.01points;  NSE Oil/Gas Index dipped by 7.21percent to 352.65 points; NSE Industrial Index rose by 1.63% to 1961 points; NSE Premium Board Index was down by 5.84percent to 1,511.58 points; while NSE Main Board Index declined to 1,140.17 points, down by 26.03percent; while NSE ASeM Index was down by 0.83percent to 1,204.91 points.

Between January and March 2016, domestic investors raised equities wagers to account for 59.49%; while foreigners accounted for 40.51%. Total foreign transactions in the first-quarter stood at N120.59 billion ($608.70million).

In the review period, the average daily volume traded across all products for Q1 2016 was 563.53 million units, and the average daily value traded, stood at N2.41 billion. The average PE ratio of the Exchange’s listed equities for the same period is 14.0x and the equity turnover velocity is 6.83%.

The dividend yield for the 52-week period ended March 31, 2016 is 6.39%. The dividend yield expresses dividends paid by listed companies as a percentage of their current share price.

Iheanyi Nwachukwu