By Dipo Olowookere
Equities in the financial services sector maintained their attractiveness to investors last week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
The market only opened its doors for business for three days last week due to the public holidays declared by the federal government on Monday and Tuesday to celebrate Christmas and Boxing Day.
According to market data analysed by Business Post, financial stocks topped the activity chart last week for selling 1.719 billion units worth N8.755 billion in 6,172 deals, contributing 91.42 per cent and 46.11 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.
Shares in the conglomerates space followed with 27.506 million units valued at N79.195 million in 355 deals, and stocks in the energy counter posted a turnover of 24.367 million units worth N2.203 billion in 758 deals.
A breakdown indicated that Sovereign Trust Insurance, Veritas Kapital Assurance and FBN Holdings were the most traded securities in the week as they collectively sold 1.149 billion units valued at N3.469 billion in 295 deals, accounting for 61.11 per cent and 18.27 per cent of the total trading volume and value, respectively.
In the week, traders bought and sold a total of 1.880 billion shares worth N18.988 billion in 12,036 deals, in contrast to the 860.933 million shares valued at N16.134 billion traded in 14,502 deals a week earlier.
In the three-day trading week, 40 stocks were on the price gainers’ log compared with the 41 stocks in the preceding week.
Analysis showed that CWG ended as the best-performing stock after it rose by 31.17 per cent to close at N1.01. Geregu Power improved by 29.00 per cent to N149.00, Wema Bank gained 21.12 per cent to sell at N3.90, Cornerstone Insurance grew by 20.00 per cent to 60 Kobo, and Thomas Wyatt increased by 19.75 per cent to 97 Kobo.
As for the losers’ chart, it recorded 16 members, lower than 17 members in the previous week, with Livestock Feeds on top after its value went down by 8.40 per cent to N1.09. FBN Holdings lost 7.63 per cent to N10.90, Fidelity Bank shed 6.45 per cent to N4.35, Vitafoam depleted by 5.98 per cent to N20.45, and Courteville dropped 4.17 per cent to 46 Kobo.
Last week, 97 equities closed flat compared with the 99 equities a week earlier.
On a week-on-week basis, the All-Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation appreciated by 3.11 per cent each to 51,251.06 points and N27.915 trillion, respectively.
Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of the banking, AFR Bank Value, MERI Growth and MERI Value, which dwindled by 1.25 per cent, 0.44 per cent, 0.43 per cent and 0.02 per cent, respectively, while the ASeM and sovereign bond indices closed flat.
