By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded one of its worst weeks in many years last week when its depreciated by nearly 14 percent.
Business Post reports that the local bourse specifically went down by 13.49 percent after its All-Share Index (ASI) and market capitalisation decreased to 22,733.35 points and N11.847 trillion respectively.
Almost throughout the week, investors were involved in panic selling, crashing prices of most stocks to their lowest in one year.
At the close of transactions for the week, a total of 4.0 billion shares worth N43.7 billion were traded in 26,054 deals in contrast to 1.8 billion shares valued at N26.0 billion transacted in the preceding week in 23,494 deals.
A breakdown of the trades indicated that the financial services sector led the activity chart with 3.6 billion stocks worth N33.6 billion traded in 19,150 deals, contributing 89.48 percent and 76.94 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The consumer goods sector followed with 91.1 million equities valued at N6.0 billion were transacted in 2,341 deals, while the conglomerates industry had a turnover of 88.4 million shares worth N132.5 million executed in 679 deals.
A further analysis showed that Zenith Bank, GTBank and UBA accounted for 2.5 billion shares worth N29.6 billion in 12,301 deals, contributing 61.75 percent and 67.64 percent to the total equity volume and value respectively.
On the price movement chart, only two equities appreciated in price during the trading week, lower than 36 equities in the previous week, while 64 equities depreciated in price, higher than 25 equities in the previous week, with 97 equities remaining unchanged, lower than 102 equities recorded in the preceding week.
During the week, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance gained 7.14 percent to close at 30 kobo per share, while Cornerstone Insurance grew by 6 percent to close at 53 kobo per share.
On the losers’ chart, Cadbury Nigeria depreciated by 38.89 percent to close at N4.95 per share, Zenith Bank lost 36.70 percent to close at N11.90 percent, Access BAnk fell by 36.47 percent to close at N5.40 per share, United Capital declined by 35.48 percent to close at N2 per share, while Nigerian Breweries went down by 31.06 percent to close at N28 per share.
