In this report, we provide a detailed overview of the performance of the global and domestic equities market in July 2023. We also provide an outlook and sector recommendations for the coming months.
Global Equities Market
The global equities market ended July 2023 on a positive note, following a slowdown in inflationary pressures. This necessitated major central banks to ease off on their interest rate hikes. During the month, both the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank (ECB) raised their benchmark interest rates by 0.25% each to 5.25%-5.50% and 3.75% respectively. In the United Kingdom, we anticipate that the Bank of England (BOE) will follow suit and raise its key interest rate by 0.25%–0.50% in their August meeting, seeking to bring inflation down to their targeted rate of 2% (June 2023 inflation: 7.9%).
Domestic Equities Market
The Nigerian equities market continued its positive trend for the ninth consecutive month, albeit with a slightly slower pace. As a result, the year-to-date (YtD) returns surged from 18.96% in June 2023 to an impressive 25.53% in July 2023. This sustained growth is following the continued positive impact of pro-market policies implemented by the new administration since its inauguration. During July 2023, positive investor sentiment was sustained as the equities market recorded gains in 12 out of 21 trading days, compared to 11 out of 19 trading days in June 2023. Moreover, on a Month-on-Month (MoM) basis, both the average volume and value traded on the NGX increased significantly by 67.00% and 67.63% to NGN 1.14bn and NGN 17.90bn respectively. Notably, the NGX 30 Index, which tracks the performance of the top thirty (30) tickers in terms of market capitalization and liquidity in the market, matched the performance of the NGX ASI, which settled at an impressive 64,337.52pts in July 2023 compared to the 60,968.27pts recorded in June 2023.
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