By Dipo Olowookere
On the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last week, Champion Breweries emerged as the best-performing equity, rising by 45.24 per cent to settle at N2.44 per share.
The brewery company led the 35 appreciating equities on the exchange during the week. In the preceding week, there were only 14 price risers.
Another performer was Regency Assurance, which gained 22.22 per cent to trade at 33 kobo per share, Smart Products Nigeria grew its value by 20.00 per cent to 24 kobo per share, Morison Industries appreciated by 19.70 per cent to 79 kobo per share, while Neimeth gained 19.43 per cent to close at N2.09 per share.
Business Post reports that in the five-day trading week, there were 38 price decliners, lower than 71 price losers recorded a week earlier.
On top of the chart was Eterna, which dropped 18.95 per cent to sell for N4.62 per share. Meyer depreciated by 18.00 per cent to 41 kobo per share, African Alliance Insurance lost 16.67 per cent to trade at 20 kobo per share, United Capital declined by 16.08 per cent to N4.80 per share, while Zenith Bank dropped 15.61 per cent to N21.35 per share.
On the activity table, a total of 1.7 billion shares worth N23.5 billion were traded in 21,732 deals compared with the 2.1 billion shares valued at N29.7 billion transacted the preceding week in 24,238 deals.
UBA, FBN Holdings and Zenith Bank accounted for 524.6 million units worth N6.0 billion in 5,346 deals, resulting in 31.32 per cent and 25.30 per cent of the total trading volume and value respectively.
At the close of business for the week, financial stocks accounted for 1.2 billion units worth N10.3 billion traded in 12,518 deals, contributing 71.64 per cent and 43.64 per cent to the total volume and value respectively.
Also, consumer goods stocks accounted for 110.6 million shares worth N3.6 billion in 3,234 deals, while industrial goods equities contributed 99.8 million units valued at N5.322 billion executed in 1,309 deals.
In the week, the All-Share Index (ASI) and market capitalisation depreciated by 1.74 per cent to 38,648.48 points and N20.221 trillion respectively.
Similarly, all other indices finished lower with the exception of NSE mainboard, insurance, ASeM, MERI Growth, consumer goods and oil/gas indices, which rose by 0.37 per cent, 2.84 per cent, 0.12 per cent, 0.24 per cent, 2.18 per cent and 0.59 per cent respectively, while the sovereign bond index closed flat.
