Stock Investors Lose N600bn, Market Cap Drops Below N20trn

Investors in the Nigerian stock market lost N600bn last week as the market capitalisation of equities fell below the N20tn mark.

The Nigerian Exchange Limited All-Share Index and market capitalisation declined by 2.93 per cent to close the week at 38,324.07 basis points and N19.98tn respectively.

All other indices finished lower with the exception of NGX Oil and Gas, NGX Growth and NGX Sovereign Bond Indices which appreciated by 7.39 per cent, 0.62 per cent and 3.02 per cent while the NSE ASeM Index closed flat.

A total turnover of 1.05 billion shares worth N11.54bn in 17,233 deals were traded last week by investors on the floor of the exchange, compared to 840.33 million shares valued at N9.56bn that exchanged hands in 13,239 deals the previous week.

The financial services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 674.74 million shares valued at N5.59bn traded in 9,405 deals, thus contributing 64.41 per cent and 48.42 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The conglomerates industry followed with 94.52 million shares worth N630.37m in 828 deals, while the ICT Industry came third with a turnover of 87.14 million shares worth N630.90m in 539 deals.

Trading in the top three equities, namely Zenith Bank Plc, FBN Holdings Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc (measured by volume), accounted for 248.27 million shares worth N3.29bn in 2,988 deals, contributing 23.70 per cent and 28.49 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Twenty-six equities appreciated in price during the week, compared to 33 in the previous week; 41 equities depreciated as against 19 equities in the previous week, while 93 equities remained unchanged as against 108 in the previous week.