Hot stocks: Analysts endorse FBN Holdings, Zenith, Diamond Bank

Following the perception of the capital market over the years, some financial analysts have said the market is witnessing both boom and burst cycles, in response to oil price volatility.
This is even as three hot stocks-FBN Holdings Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and Diamond Bank Plc, accounted for 551.865 million, last week.
A financial analyst and former stockbroker, Mr. Dolapo Ekehinde, said that the performance of the stock market underscored the fact it was not delinked from the macro economy, and that the market had not really grown over the years in terms of modus operandi, even though it had moved from analogue to digitised operations, but was still shallow in terms of the number and caliber of firms that were listed on it.
An asset management analyst, Oluwasina Ademola, also said most firms on the stock exchange are local rather than international. “So, there is the need to reform the exchange to attract or encourage listing by foreign or international businesses to increase its depth,” he said,
He added that government should not force companies to be listed, but could be engaged through mutually beneficial methods, particularly companies in the telecommunications and upstream sectors of the oil industry.
Meanwhile, a total turnover of 1.113 billion shares worth N13.465 billion were traded last week in 15,036 deals. This was in contrast to a total of 1.290 billion shares valued at N13.873 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 17,307 deals.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 926.286 million shares, valued at N9.696 billion traded in 9,906 deals; thus contributing 83.25per cent and 72.01per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.
The ICT Industry followed with73.076 million shares worth N14.664 million in 35 deals. The third place was Consumer Goods Industry with a turnover of 36.749 million shares worth N2.562 billion in 2,301 deals.
Trading in the Top Three Equities namely, FBN Holdings Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and Diamond Bank Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 551.865 million shares worth N6.602 billion in3,116 deals, contributing 49.60per cent and49.03per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.
Also traded during the week were a total of 10,598 units of Exchange Traded Products valued at N1.355 million executed in five deals, compared with a total of 2,971 units valued at N766,883.30 that was transacted last week in seven deals.
The NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalisation depreciated by 2.45percent to close the week at 31,142.72and N11.614 trillion, respectively. Similarly, all other indices finished lower with the exception of the NSE ASeM and NSE Oil/Gas indices which appreciated by 0.21per cent and 0.09per cent, respectively.