Market Participants Stake N98.350bn on 3.051 billion Shares in Five Days

By Dipo Olowookere

It was another busy period at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited last week as investors intensified their hunger for local equities.

In the five-day trading week, market participants bought and sold 3.051 billion shares worth N98.350 billion in 72,535 deals versus the 3.245 billion shares valued at N69.198 billion traded in 77,270 deals in the preceding week.

The trio of Access Holdings, FBN Holdings, and Zenith Bank dominated the activity chart with 1.176 billion stocks worth N38.469 billion in 9,506 deals, contributing 38.56 per cent and 39.11 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively.

Business Post reports that the financial services space traded 2.260 billion equities valued at N52.190 billion in 33,724 deals, contributing 74.08 per cent and 53.07 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively.

The consumer goods counter ended the week with the sale of 141.684 million shares worth N4.018 billion in 7,218 deals, and the industrial goods sector posted a turnover of 104.862 million stocks valued at N3.300 billion in 3,995 deals.

In the week, 58 equities appreciated compared with 52 equities of the previous week, 34 stocks depreciated versus 44 stocks of the preceding week, and 58 shares remained unchanged, in contrast to the 54 shares recorded a week earlier.

UPDC gained 38.50 per cent to quote at N2.59, Eterna expanded by 32.79 per cent to N36.65, International Energy Insurance soared by 29.53 per cent to N2.50, Cadbury Nigeria jumped by 27.61 per cent to N29.35, and Fidson surged by 24.40 per cent to N20.90.

Conversely, Sunu Assurances lost 12.87 per cent to settle at N5.01, University Press shed 10.00 per cent to sell for N5.04, Multiverse weakened by 9.95 per cent to N9.05, SCOA Nigeria slumped by 9.83 per cent to N3.67, and Tripple G declined by 9.72 per cent to N2.23.

At the close of transactions last Friday, the All-Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation went up by 1.38 per cent and 1.37 per cent to 105,933.03 points and N65.592 trillion, respectively.

Equally, all other indices finished higher except the consumer goods and growth sectors, which depreciated by 0.60 per cent and 4.74 per cent, respectively, while the ASeM and sovereign bond counters closed flat.