Investment in the equity market last week closed on an upward trend, advancing by N74 billion. Specifically, market capitalisation of listed equities increased by 0.86 per cent to N8.621 trillion from N8.547 trillion traded the preceding week. Also the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index surged by 212.30 basis points to N25,062.41 points from 24850.11 traded the previous week.
Similarly, all other Indices took upward trend during the week, with the exception of the NSE Insurance Index, NSE Oil/Gas Index, NSE Lotus Index and the NSE Industrial Goods Index that declined by 0.28 per cent, 9.69 per cent,
0.85 per cent and 2.03 per cent respectively, while the NSE ASeM Index closed flat. NSE Premium Index on the other hand added by 32.15 basis points to 1,576.97, the NSE main board Index rose by 1.16 basis points to 1,121.94 points, NSE 30 Index grew by 5.90 to 1,098.20, NSE Banking index went up by 7.43 to 235.30 points, NSE Consumer Goods Index surged by 24.74 to 611.05, and NSE Pension Index by roses 6.27 to 720.15 points Investors for the week traded a turnover of 1.210 billion shares worth N7.115 billion in 15,973 deals in contrast to a total of 885.367 million shares valued at N5.829 billion that exchanged hands last week in 13,870 deals.
The Financial Services Industry led the activity chart with account of 1.053 billion shares valued at N4.618 billion traded in 9,640 deals; contributing 87.01per cent and 64.90 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Conglomerates Industry followed with 54.319 million shares worth N71.287 million in 564 deals. The Consumer Goods Industry took the third position with a turnover of 39.421 million shares worth N1.420 billion in 2,855 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely – FBN Holdings Plc, Access Bank Plc and United Bank For Africa
Plc. accounted for 654.258 million shares worth N2.413 billion in 3,965 deals, indicating 54.08 per cent and 33.92 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. A review of trading activities for the week showed that 33 equities appreciated in price during the week, against 35 recorded the previous week.
The result showed that 35 companies depreciated in price, compared to 32 equities of the previous week, while 121 equities remained unchanged lower than 122 recorded the previous week. Eterna Plc led gainers table for the week, growing by 17.95 per cent or N0.35 kobo to close at N2.30 kobo, A.G. Leventis (Nigeria) Plc followed with a gain of 14.63 per cent or N0.12 kobo to close at N0.54 kobo while United Capital Plc increased by 11.49 per cent or N0.17 kobo to N1.65 kobo. Other firms that recorded share appreciation were Honey Well Flour Mills Plc 11.43 per cent, Wema Bank Plc 11.11 per cent, Nigerian Breweries Plc 9.64 per cent, Nascon Allied Industries Plc 9.43 per cent, Cutix Plc 9.09 per cent, Tiger Branded Consumer Goods 8.99 per cent and FBNHoldings 8.43 per cent.
