By Dipo Olowookere
The recent appreciation in the prices of stocks at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited is already attracting investors to the landscape as moneybags now have a reason to take a gamble in equities.
Last week, the market attracted investments worth N27.194 billion through the sale of 1.816 billion shares in 36,286 deals compared with the N19.603 billion attracted a week ago through the trading of 1,598 billion shares in 21,494 deals.
Analysis showed that financial equities were the most attractive in the week with the sale of 904.860 million units valued at N8.498 billion in 12,883 deals, contributing 49.82 per cent and 31.25 per cent to the total trading volume and value respectively.
Conglomerates stocks trailed with 263.830 million units worth N540.313 million in 1,651 deals, while consumer goods shares occupied third place with 238.964 million units valued at N5.816 billion in 7,635 deals.
A further breakdown revealed that Transcorp, GTCO and Jaiz Bank were the most traded stocks as they transacted 459,179 million units worth N3.294 billion in 3,645 deals, accounting for 25.28 per cent and 12.11 per cent of the total turnover volume and value respectively.
Business Post reports that 50 stocks gained in value last week compared with the 49 of the preceding week, 32 equities shed weight in the week same as the previous week, while 74 shares remained stagnant in contrast to the 75 shares of the earlier week.
The highest price gainer was McNichols, which rose by 59.52 per cent to N1.34, Royal Exchange appreciated by 51.49 per cent to N1.53, Champion Breweries gained 30.84 per cent to trade at N4.37, International Breweries improved by 30.37 per cent to N8.80, while Okomu Oil expanded by 26.47 per cent to N215.00.
Conversely, Academy Press was the biggest price loser as its value went down by 13.71 per cent to N1.51, Ikeja Hotel dropped 10.94 per cent to sell at N1.14, Guinness Nigeria depreciated by 10.91 per cent to N98.00, Tripple Gee fell by 9.38 per cent to 87 kobo, while Caverton depleted by 9.09 per cent to N1.20.
Data from the exchange indicated that the All-Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation appreciated on a week-on-week basis by 4.25 per cent to 53,098.46 points and N28.626 trillion respectively.
Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of insurance, NGX AFR Div Yield and sovereign bond indices, which depreciated by 1.92 per cent, 2.82 per cent and 0.02 per cent apiece as the Asem index closed flat.
