By Dipo Olowookere
The market opened for four trading days this week as federal government declared Tuesday, November 20, 2018 a public holiday to mark the Eid-el-Maulud celebrations.
In the four trading day this week, the All-Share Index (ASI) and market capitalisation depreciated by 1.18 percent to close at 31,678.70 points and N11.565 trillion respectively.
Similarly, all other indices finished lower with the exception of the NSE Main Board, NSE Insurance, NSE Consumer Goods, NSE Oil and Gas and NSE Pension indices that finished higher by 0.43 percent, 1.38 percent, 1.08 percent, 0.25 percent and 0.56 percent respectively, while the NSE ASeM Index closed flat.
A total of 30 equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than 24 in the previous week, while 24 shares depreciated in price, lower than 36 of the previous week, with 115 stocks remaining unchanged higher than 109 equities recorded in the preceding week.
During the week, a total turnover of 1.3 billion shares worth N23.1 billion in 11,467 deals were traded by investors on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in contrast to a total of 1.3 billion equities valued at N11.5 billion that exchanged hands last week in 13,245 deals.
The Financial Services sector measured by volume led the activity chart with 1.1 billion shares valued at N18.7 billion traded in 6,558deals, contributing 82.48 percent and 81.00 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Oil and Gas industry followed with 96.8 million shares valued at N644.2 million in 925deals, while the third place was occupied by Consumer Goods sector with a turnover of 83.1 million shares worth N3.2 billion in 2,114 deals.
Trading in the top three stocks; Zenith Bank, Diamond Bank and Oando measured by volume accounted for 877.5 million shares worth N16.2 billion in 1,423 deals, contributing 68.43 percent and 69.77 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Also traded during the week were a total of 5,637 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) valued at N1.301 million executed in 5 deals compared with a total of 5,727 units valued at N2.284 million that was transacted last week in 11 deals.
In addition, a total of 3,032 units of Federal Government Bonds valued at N3.046 million were traded this week in 16 deals compared with a total of 1,034 units valued at N980,295.60 transacted last week in 10 deals.
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Adedapo Adesanya