By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian stock exchange (NSE) ended its bearish run for three (3) consecutive weeks as all-share index (ASI) inched up 1.43 percent (1.43%) to close at 38,331.78, while market capitalisation closed at N12.313 trillion.
Weekly stock market from the Nigerian bourse for the week ended March 28, 2014 said all the NSE indices appreciated during the week with the exception of the NSE banking index that opened at 385.57 and closed at 366.25 basis points respectively, while the NSE ASeM closed flat at 592.39 basis points.
Analysts at Cordros Capital Limited said despite opening the week on a bearish note, the market reverted on Tuesday as renewed buying interest boosted market recovery. ‘’The market continued bullish run till Friday; leading to a week-on-week (WoW) gain of 1.43%.
The WoW gains were largely supported by week-to-date (WtD) positive returns in industrial goods and consumer goods sectors- closing the with 3.34% and 3.26% appreciation respectively,’’ the Cordros analysts said.
They affirmed that on the contrary, the banking sector index that fell by 5.01% was driven by a sharp WoW decline in the shares of Zenith Bank Plc at (10.91%) and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc at (4.41%).
On its part, the Nigerian bourse reported a turnover of 1.870 billion shares worth N26.811 billion in 21,632 deals traded this week by investors, compared to a total of 1.391 billion shares valued at 19.414, billion that exchanged hands last week in 22,527 deals.
Also, the NSE reported that the financial services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.510 billion shares valued at N10.709 billion traded in 12,306 deals; thus contributing 80.77% and 39.94% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
On the second place is the services industry with a turnover of 122.728 million shares worth N99.818 million in 468 deals.
While, the third position was occupied by the consumer goods industry with 84.494 million shares worth N13.618 billion in 3,593 deals.
The NSE further reported that trading in the top three (3) equities namely- Royal Exchange Plc, Sterling Bank Plc and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (measured by volume) accounted for 620.522 million shares worth N2.567 billion in 883 deals, contributing 33.19% and 9.57% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
In their analysis, the Cordros Analysts say the level of activities appreciated by 15.83%, in response to higher volume transactions witnessed in the banking sector. 1.61 billion shares worth N26.63billion exchanged hands in 21,627 deals, compared to the 1.39billion shares worth N19.41billion that were traded in 22,524 deals last week.
A summary of price changes at the Nigerian bourse for the week shows that 39 equities appreciated in prices during the week higher than 19 the past week. 36 equities depreciated in prices lower than 56 reported in the preceding week, while 123 equities remained unchanged.
