The local equities market, last week, sustained its bullish sentiment amid sustained investors’ interest in banking shares.
Given the bullish sentiment, the All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) rose by 1.61 per cent Week-on-Week (W-o-W) to close at 40,868.36 basis points.
Consequently, investors earned N340 billion during the five-day trading sessions as the market capitalisation closed at N21.296 trillion on Friday.
The rally in the local bourse could be linked to the announcement of Airtel Africa’s intention to buy out a minority stake in Airtel Nigeria; a development that could help boost FBN Holding’s plan to divest from Airtel Nigeria.
Market breadth for the week was positive as 42 equities appreciated in price, 26 equities depreciated in price, while 87 equities remained unchanged.
University Press led the gainers’ table by 28.46 per cent to close at N1.58, per share. FBN Holdings (FBNH) followed with a gain of 21.74 per cent to close at N9.80, while Courteville Business Solutions went up by 21.74 per cent to close to N9.80, per share.
On the other side, Cornerstone Insurance led the decliners table by 12.07 per cent to close at 51 kobo, per share. Morison Industries followed with a loss of 10 per cent to close at N1.89 and BOC Gases declined by 9.87 per cent to close at N10.50, per share.
Sectoral performance was largely positive as the NGX Banking, NGX Oil & Gas and the NGX Industrial indexes rose by 4.53 per cent, 0.24 per cent and 0.11 per cent respectively to close at 387.64 points, 368.16 points and 2,091.63 points respectively. On the flip side, the NGX Consumer Goods and NGX Insurance index fell by 0.51 per cent and 1.51 per cent to 564.30 points and 170.43 points respectively.
Overall, a total turnover of 2.179 billion shares worth N21.963 billion in 22,438 deals was traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 2.187 billion shares valued at N16.183 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 14,377 deals.
The Financial Services Industry, measured by volume led the activity chart with 1.770 billion shares valued at N18.058 billion traded in 12,942 deals; contributing 81.20 per cent and 82.22 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Conglomerates followed with 93.178 million shares worth N169.819 million in 736 deals, while ICT Industry traded a turnover of 72.338 million shares worth N1.043 billion in 861 deals.
Trading in the top three equities; FBN Holdings, Universal Insurance and Fidelity Bank accounted for 1.161 billion shares worth N12.338 billion in 3,460 deals, contributing 53.28 per cent and 56.18 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Looking ahead, analysts at Cowry Assets Management Limited expect the equities market index to close in positive territory, this week, as investors continue to take position ahead of companies’ nine months financial results releases.
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