Investors’ growing appetite for shares with good returns prospect was sustained in the Nigerian equities market during the week ended last Friday, as the bourse’s All-Share Index grew by 0.63% compared with the 0.59% decline recorded in the preceding week.
The weekly stock market report released by the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) showed that the ASI closed at 49,682.15 index points from the 49,661.87 points recorded at the end of trading sessions last week.
Similarly, the market’s capitalization followed the positive trend to close at N26.80 trillion, thereby bringing the month-to-date performance of the equities market to a negative 1.37% and a year-to-date (YTD) gain rising to16.31%.
A further analysis of the NGX report indicated that total of 914.443 million shares valued at N 15.263 billion were traded during the week in 18,021 deals, higher than the 823.005 million units of shares valued at N12.228 billion that exchanged hands in the previous week in 17,482 deals.
On the activity chart, the Financial Services Industry led the activity chart in terms of volume of shares traded with 723.125 million shares valued at N5.209 billion traded in 9,122 deals. The industry thereby contributed 79.08% and 34.13% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Consumer Goods Industry followed with 51.097 million shares worth N4.668 billion traded in 2,610 deals, while the Conglomerates Industry came third with a turnover of 36.089 million shares worth N72.383 billion in 527 deals.
The report further showed that trading in the top three equities by volume, namely Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc, FBN Holdings Plc and Access Holdings Plc accounted for 323.474 million shares worth N2.520 billion in 1,457 deals, contributing 39.30% and 20.61% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Also, 11 indices declined, while 6 indexes appreciated with the exception of NGX ASeM Index and NGX Growth Index which remained unchanged.