At the close of transactions last week, a turnover of 2.798 billion shares worth N23.9 billion was recorded in 22,970 deals by investors on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX). This volume of shares traded is however higher than a total of 1.374 billion units, valued at N23.7 billion that exchanged hands in 28,809 deals on March 4, 2022.
A breakdown of transactions in the activity chart last week showed that the financial services industry maintained its dominance in volume terms with 2.398 billion shares valued at N14 billion traded in 11,900 deals; thus contributing 85.69 per cent to the total equity turnover volume.
The conglomerate industry followed with 73.381 million shares worth N305 million in 996 deals. The consumer goods industry ranked third with a turnover of 60.832 million units worth N3.1 billion in 2,707 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely FCMB Group Plc, Unity Bank Plc and FBN Holdings Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 1.633 billion shares worth N5.5 billion in 1,395 deals, contributing 58.36 per cent to the total equity turnover.
On the price movement chart, bullish sentiment buoyed the performance of the domestic bourse as investors responded to several factors including positive earning forecasts and dividend declarations.
Specifically, gains in Presco (+19.6 per cent), GTCO (+3.9 per cent), International Breweries (+4.0 per cent), and Okomu oil (+3.7 per cent) lifted the All-Share Index (ÀSI) and market capitalisation by 0.36 per cent to close the week at 47,437.48 and N25.566 trillion respectively.
Similarly, all other indices finished higher except NGX consumer goods, NGX oil/gas and NGX industrial goods, which depreciated by 0.52 per cent, 2.22 per cent and 0.13 per cent respectively while NGX AseM, NGX growth and NGX sovereign bond indices closed flat.
Reacting to market performance last week, analysts at Codros Capital said: “We expect market performance to be dominated by the bulls in the week ahead, as we expect yield-seeking investors to take positions in stocks with attractive dividend yields amid the negative real returns in the fixed income market.”
Further breakdown of last week’s trading showed that a total of 17,399 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) valued at N933,567 were traded in 24 deals compared with a total of 1.586 units valued at N24.9 million transacted last in 22 deals during the preceding week.
Also, 10,306 units of bonds, valued at N10.8 billion were traded in 12 deals compared with a total of 136,800 units valued at N149 million transacted in 23 deals.
