Stock Investors Gain N340bn In Bullish Week

Investors in the Nigerian equities market earned N340.29bn as trading ended on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Friday.

The NGX All-Share index and market capitalisation appreciated by 1.61 per cent and 1.62 per cent each to close the week at 40,868.36 basis points and N21.296 trillion respectively, from 40,221.17bps and N20.96tn the week before.

Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NGX Insurance and NGX Consumer Goods Indices that shed 1.51 per cent and 0.51 per cent respectively, while the NGX ASeM, NGX Growth and NGX Sovereign Bond Indices closed flat.

A total turnover of 2.18 billion shares worth N21.96bn in 22,438 deals were traded this week by investors on the floor of the exchange, in contrast to a total of 2.19 billion shares valued at N16.18bn that exchanged hands last week in 14,377 deals.

The financial services industry, measured by volume led the activity chart with 1.77 billion shares valued at N18.06bn traded in 12,942 deals; thus contributing 81.20 per cent and 82.22 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The conglomerates followed with 93.19 million shares worth N169.82m in 736 deals. The third place was ICT industry, with a turnover of 72.34 million shares worth N1.04bn in 861 deals.

Measured by volume, trading in the top three equities namely FBN Holdings Plc, Universal Insurance Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc accounted for 1.16 billion shares worth N12.34bn in 3,460 deals, contributing 53.28 per cent and 56.18 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

University Press Plc rose by 28.46 per cent to N1.58 per share. FBN Holdings came next, rising by 21.74 per cent to N9.80 per share. Courteville Business Solutions Plc (+17.14 per cent), Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (+16.67 per cent), and Pharma-Deko Plc (+10.64 per cent), also saw gains during the week.

Atop the losers was Cornerstone Insurance Plc which fell by 12.07 per cent to N0.51 per share. Morison Industries Plc followed with a 10.00 per cent drop to N1.89 per share. Other major losers were B.O.C Gases Plc (-9.87 per cent), Regency Alliance Insurance Plc (-9.09 per cent), and Academy Press Plc (-7.69 per cent).

The NGX also announced in its weekly report that the Federal Government listed additional units of its bonds issued earlier in September on the exchange during the week. It consisted of 118.83 million units of its 12.98 per cent March 2050 bond, 242.23 million units of its 13.98 per cent February 2028 bond, and 258.04 million units of its 12.40 per cent March 2036 bond.