By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Last week, the stock market in Nigeria operated for four days as a result of the public holiday declared by federal government to mark the Easter celebrations.
The market was shut down on Friday for Good Friday and this will continue today for Easter Monday. Activities are expected to resume tomorrow, Tuesday, April 14, 2020.
But during the four-day trading sessions of last week, more equities were transacted at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
This was due to the bargain hunting witnessed most part of the week, which led to the All-Share Index (ASI) and market capitalisation appreciating by 1.37 percent apiece to 21,384.03 and N11.144 trillion respectively.
All other indices finished higher with the exception of the energy index, industrial goods index and Lotus II, which fell by 4.76 percent, 6.59 percent and 2.65 percent respectively, while the ASeM index closed flat.
During the week, 2.4 billion shares worth N19.9 billion were traded in 18,918 deals compared with 1.5 billion equities valued at N11.3 billion transacted the previous week in 18,928 deals.
An analysis showed that financial stocks led the activity chart with 2.2 billion units worth N11.1 billion exchanged in 11,322 deals, contributing 89.42 percent and 55.72 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
In addition, a total of 102.8 billion industrial goods shares worth N3.6 billion were traded in the week in 2,483 deals, while 51.1 million units of consumer goods stocks valued at N3.6 billion were transacted in 1,924 deals.
A further breakdown indicated that Omoluabi Mortgage Bank, GTBank and FBN Holdings were the most active stocks by volume last week, accounting for 1.7 billion units worth N8.0 billion in 4,443deals. These three equities contributed 69.76 percent and 40.30 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Data obtained by Business Post from the NSE showed that 35 equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than 15 equities in the previous week, while 18 equities depreciated in price, lower than 36 equities in the previous week, with 110 equities closing flat, lower than 112 equities recorded in the preceding week.
Lafarge Africa was the best performing stock, rising by 41.34 percent to close at N12.65 per share. Wema Bank gained 24.53 percent to close at 59 kobo per share, UBA appreciated by 25.25 percent to finish at N6.20 per share, Sterling Bank rose by 25.23 percent to close at N1.39 percent, while Fidelity Bank gained 24.26 percent to settle at N2.10 per share.
On the flip side, Ardova ended the week as the worst performing stock, going down by 18.48 percent to close at N11.25 per share. SAHCO fell by 15.61 percent to close at N2.00 per share, BUA Cement declined by 12.75 percent to finish at N30.80 per share, Learn Africa lost 10.00 percent to finish at 90 kobo per share, while Cutix dropped 10.00 percent to close at N1.26 per share.
Adedapo Adesanya