Nigerian Bourse Records Low Turnover as Appetite for Stocks Wanes

By Dipo Olowookere

Transactions at the Nigerian bourse last week were bearish as the appetite for stocks waned, with investors reacting to various happenings around them, causing some of them to take a second thought on investments in the asset class to try less risky investments like bonds, treasury bills and others.

In the four-day trading week due to the public holiday on Monday to celebrate June 12 Democracy Day, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) depreciated by 2.68 per cent week-on-week as the All Share Index (ASI) finished at 51,778.08 points compared with the previous week’s 53,201.38 points while the market capitalisation depreciated to N27.914 trillion from the preceding week’s N28.681 trillion.

Similarly, all other indices finished lower with the exception of the growth index which appreciated at 2.79 per cent, while the Asem index closed flat.

The week was marred with low trading activities as traders only transacted 940.892 million shares worth N11.494 billion in 20,077 deals in contrast to the 1.831 billion shares worth N19.494 billion transacted in 21,723 deals a week earlier.

Like in the preceding weeks, financial stocks dominated the activity chart with the sale of 692.325 million units worth N6.220 billion in 10,615 deals, accounting for 73.58 per cent and 54.12 per cent of the total weekly trading volume and value respectively.

Conglomerates equities trailed with 89.872 million units worth N246.063 million in 764 deals, while consumer goods shares posted a turnover of 54.227 million units worth N1.232 billion in 2,923 deals.

UBA, Sterling Bank and Transcorp were the busiest stocks in the week, trading 304.837 million units valued at N1.285 billion in 2,103 deals, contributing 32.39 per cent and 11.18 per cent to the total trading volume and value respectively.

A look at the price movement index showed that only 13 equities were on the gainers’ table compared with the previous week’s 29 equities. The losers’ gang had 51 stocks in the week under consideration as against the 36 stocks of the earlier week, while 92 shares remained unchanged, higher than the 91 shares of the preceding week.

Learn Africa posted a 15.74 per cent gain to sell for N2.50, Sunu Assurances appreciated by 9.37 per cent to 35 kobo, Tripple Gee rose by 9.20 per cent to 95 kobo, Ellah Lakes increased its value by 8.40 per cent to N4.00, while Livingtrust Mortgage Bank grew by 5.26 per cent to N1.20.

At the other end, Livestock Feeds lost 16.88 per cent to trade at N1.33, International Breweries depreciated by 14.97 per cent to N6.25, Cutix dropped 10.74 per cent to N2.41, Meyer fell by 10.00 per cent to N2.79, while Conoil also decreased by 10.00 per cent to N28.80.