By Dipo Olowookere
A total of 49 equities finished on the gainers’ chart last week, higher than the 35 equities in the previous week due to the buying pressure witnessed at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
The week was characterised by the leadership tussle in Transcorp, which was quickly nipped in the bud after Mr Femi Otedola reportedly agreed to sell his stake to his friend, Mr Tony Elumelu.
This led to Transcorp leading the activity chart with Access Holdings and Fidelity, accounting for 13.116 billion shares worth N47.928 billion in 6,614 deals, contributing 93.49 per cent and 81.22 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively.
Business Post reports that the stock exchange operated for four days due to a public holiday observed last Monday for Eid-al-Fitr, and when the market closed on Friday, investors traded 14.029 billion stocks worth N59.007 billion in 24,048 deals compared with the 3.920 billion stocks valued at N15.620 billion transacted in 16,856 deals in the preceding week.
The conglomerates sector was the busiest, with the sale of 11.399 billion shares valued at N30.990 billion traded in 2,310 deals, contributing 81.25 per cent and 52.52 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively.
The financial services industry followed with 2.185 billion shares worth N22.225 billion in 11,946 deals, while the energy category recorded a turnover of 117.097 million shares worth N648.971 million in 1,500 deals.
In the week, 17 stocks shed weight compared with the 31 stocks in the previous week, while 90 equities remained unchanged, the same recorded in the previous week.
Honeywell Flour was the best-performing stock as it gained 34.91 per cent to trade at N3.13, Cadbury Nigeria improved by 32.35 per cent to N13.50, CWG rose by 19.32 per cent to N1.05, Chams jumped by 16.67 per cent to 28 Kobo, and Transcorp gained 14.69 per cent to trade at N2.81.
On the flip side, Nigerian Breweries was the worst-performing stock as it lost 11.48 per cent to quote at N32.00, Royal Exchange fell by 11.11 per cent to 56 Kobo, Red Star Express declined by 10.00 per cent N2.52, International Energy Insurance shrank by 8.82 per cent to N1.24, and Prestige Assurance crashed by 7.69 per cent to 36 Kobo.
Last week, the All-Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation chalked up 2.04 per cent to 52,403.51 points and N28.534 trillion, respectively.
Also, all other indices finished higher except NGX MERI Growth and energy indices, which dropped 1.58 per cent and 0.14 per cent, respectively, while the ASeM, growth and sovereign bond indices closed flat.
Adedapo Adesanya