56 Stocks Gain Weight, 35 Stocks Shed Weight in One Week on NGX

By Dipo Olowookere

The market breadth index was positive on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited last week after closing with 56 price gainers and 35 price losers, implying strong investor sentiment.

This development raised the All-Share Index (ASI) by 2.36 per cent to 246,992.44 points, and lifted the market capitalisation by 2.40 per cent to N159.559 trillion.

Similarly, all other indices finished higher apart from the industrial goods and the sovereign bond indices, which depreciated by 0.35 per cent and 0.36 per cent, respectively.

Royal Exchange gained 25.00 per cent to close at N1.10, Champion Breweries grew by 20.10 per cent to N11.95, Nigerian Breweries appreciated by 18.80 per cent to N82.45, Coronation Insurance expanded by 17.07 per cent to N2.40, and McNichols soared by 16.67 per cent to N5.25.

On the flip side, Beta Glass crashed by 17.38 per cent to N465.00, NASCON shed 15.90 per cent to close at N164.00, Red Star Express tumbled by 13.62 per cent to N13.95, RT Briscoe fell by 13.16 per cent to N9.90, and University Press lost 12.28 per cent to trade at N5.00.

In the five-day trading week, investors bought and sold 4.360 billion shares worth N210.331 billion in 223,284 deals versus the 2.507 billion shares valued at N123.223 billion that exchanged hands in 173,561 deals a week earlier.

The Financial Services industry led the activity chart with 3.580 billion equities sold for N88.635 billion in 99,488 deals, contributing 82.10 per cent and 42.14 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively.

The Consumer Goods space followed with 188.039 million stocks worth N15.343 billion in 24,518 deals, and the Services sector ended with a turnover of 142.292 million shares valued at N2.020 billion in 14,007 deals.

The busiest stocks in the week were Fortis Global Insurance, UBA, and Access Holdings, accounting for 2.287 billion units exchanged for N35.232 billion in 20,975 deals, contributing 52.46 per cent and 16.75 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively.