Amid Dividend Announcements, Investors Gain N11.46bn

The Nigerian Exchange Limited’s equities market gained N11.46bn at the end of the week as dividend announcements renewed investors’ interest.

The NGX All-Share Index and market capitalisation appreciated by 0.06 per cent and 0.05 per cent to close the week at 38,943.87 basis points and N20.290tn respectively from 38,921.78bps and N20.28tn.

The NGX Banking, NGX Insurance, NGX MERI Growth, NGX Consumer Goods, NGX Oil/Gas and NGX Industrial Goods indices depreciated by 0.79 per cent, 0.58 per cent, 0.12 per cent, 0.21 per cent, 3.35 per cent and 0.24 per cent respectively.

The other indices finished higher except the NGX ASeM, NGX Growth and NGX Sovereign Bond Indices which closed flat.

A total turnover of 856.29 million shares worth N10.75bn in 15,663 deals were traded last week by investors on the floor of the exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.43 billion shares valued at N13.07bn that exchanged hands the week before in 19,315 deals.

The financial services industry led the activity chart by volume with 583.04 million shares valued at N3.97bn traded in 7,894 deals, contributing 68.09 per cent and 36.93 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The consumer goods industry followed with 62.96 million shares worth N3.20bn in 2,579 deals. In third place was ICT, with a turnover of 45.75 million shares worth N1.65bn in 775 deals.

Measured by volume, trading in the top three equities namely Access Bank Plc, Universal Insurance Plc and Wema Bank Plc accounted for 211.15 million shares worth N789.84m in 1,403 deals, contributing 24.66 per cent and 7.35 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Twenty-one equities appreciated during the week, lower than 25 equities in the previous week. Thirty-eight equities depreciated, higher than 34 equities in the previous week, while 96 equities remained unchanged lower than 97 equities recorded in the previous week.