Investors Lose N39bn as Trade Volume Increases

Trading Exchange closed negative on Friday by 0.11 per cent week-on-week due to weak market momentum which saw investors losing N39bn.

Both the market capitalisation and the Nigerian Exchange Limited All Share Index closed trading lower at N36.847tn and 67,324.59 respectively compared to the previous week’s figure of N36.886tn and 67,395.74 basis points.

However, the total turnover of shares was 3.911 billion units worth N30.38bn in 38,536 deals, higher than a total of 2.933 billion shares valued at N47.45bn that exchanged hands the previous week in 44,654 deals.

Measured by volume, the Financial Services Industry led the activity chart with 2.774 billion shares valued at N15.24bn traded in 16,379 deals; thus contributing 70.92 per cent and 50.17 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

This was followed by the Oil and Gas Industry which saw 438.508 million shares worth N5.20bn traded in 6,258 deals. The third place was the ICT Industry, with a turnover of 294.470 million shares worth N4.447 billion in 3,078 deals.

The top three equities traded in the review period were Universal Insurance Plc, Oando Plc and United Bank for Africa Plc (measured by volume) which accounted for 2.212 billion shares worth N8.91bn in 7,593 deals, contributing 56.56 per cent and 29.32 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The Insurance sector emerged as the top gainer in the week by 3.34 per cent week on week, followed by the Consumer goods (+2.98 per cent), Banking (+0.61 per cent) and the Oil & Gas sectors (+0.56 per cent) accordingly. On the contrary, the Industrial Goods sector closed the week negative by 4.80 per cent week on week owing price decrease in Dangote Cement.

Other indices which depreciated in value during the week were NGX 30, NGX Premium, NGX AFR Div Yield, NGX Lotus ll, NGX Industrial Goods, NGX Growth and NGX Pension Broad which dipped by 0.13 per cent, 3.45 per cent, 1.72 per cent, 0.12 per cent, 0.36 per cent and 0.14 per cent respectively while the NGX ASeM index closed flat.

In the week under review, 48 equities appreciated higher than 32 equities in the previous week. Forty equities depreciated in price lower than 53 in the previous week, while 67 equities remained unchanged, lower than 70 recorded in the previous week.

Leading the gainers’ chart was Sunu Assurances whose share price rose by 32.91 per cent to N1.05, Ellah Lakes Plc’s share appreciated by 28.79 per cent to N3.30, E-Tranzact International Plc gained 28.57 per cent to close at N9.45 per share, Chams Holdings’ shares rose by 19.09 per cent to N1.31 and Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc took the fifth position on the gainers’ table after gaining 17.65 per cent to close N2 per share.

On the losers’ table, Tantalizers led with 21.05 per cent dip to close at N0.30, Guinea Insurance lost 20.69 per cent in its share value to close at N0.23, McNichols lost 13.33 per cent to close trading at N0.65, Unity Bank Plc’s share lost 11.29 per cent in value to close at N1.10 and Secure Electronic Technology’s shares depreciated by 10.34 per cent to close the trading week at N0.26.

Meanwhile, analysts are of the view that this week will see mixed sentiments in the market, with positive momentum counterbalanced by profit-taking activities.

Analysts at Cowry Asset Management Limited opined that the uncertainty in “the market will be further fueled by the half-year earnings reports from Access Holdings while investors are likely to continue in portfolio reshuffling in preparation for the quarter-end reporting season.”