By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)- The Nigerian equities market ended the week on a positive note as benchmark index and market capitalisation inched up 0.44 percent to close at 41,564.19 and N13.724 trillion respectively, according to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) weekly market report.
Similarly, the NSE reported that all the indices appreciated during the week with the exception of NSE banking index (0.18%), NSE consumer index (0.06%) and NSE Lotus II (0.15%) while the NSE ASeM index closed flat.
Analysts at Proshare say the Year-to-Date (YTD) returns at the Nigerian equities market currently stands at +0.57% as market turnover closed negative. Volume traded moved down by –3.98% compared to –5.16% decline recorded in the previous session.
While analysts at Cordros Capital said the equities market overcame a poor market breadth, following a negatively skewed intra-week trading and sell-downs in the banking and consumer goods sectors to record a 0.45% increase in the benchmark index.
Cordros report say the week-on-week (w/w) return can be attributed to the bullish session witnessed on Tuesday, in which the market grew by 1.07%, that being the only positive session within week. The major driver was the increased demand in counters like MRS Oil Plc, (8.31%), Zenith Bank Plc (3.35%), NB (2.48%), Forte Oil Plc (2.30%) and Dangote Cement Plc (1.76%) that posted price declines last week.
The NSE reported that a turnover of 1.031 billion shares worth N12.284 billion in 22,056 deals were traded this week by investors on the floor of its bourse compared to a total of 1.367 billion shares valued at N13.295 billion that exchanged hands last week in 23,973 deals.
According to the NSE’s weekly report, the financial services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 790.128 million shares valued at N6.366 billion traded in 11,151 deals; thus contributing 76.67% and 51.82% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
It further reported that the conglomerates industry followed with a turnover of 81.650 million shares worth 663.774 million in 1,534 deals, while the third place was occupied by the consumer goods industry with 54.716 million shares worth N3.154 billion in 3,446 deals.
The NSE affirmed that top three (3) equities- Access bank Plc, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc and Zenith International Bank Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 228.837 million shares worth N2.863 billion in 3,188 deals, contributing 22.20% and 23.31% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
In terms of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) the NSE said a total of 13,804 units valued at N541,755.15 million executed in 21 deals in the review period compared with a total of 47,946 units valued at N1.008 million transacted last week in 21 deals.
A summary of price changes at the Nigerian bourse this week shows that 34 equities appreciated in prices during the week higher than 30 reported that previous week. The NSE said 42 equities depreciated in prices lower than 44 equities recorded last week, while 124 remained unchanged lower than 125 recorded the preceding week.
At the end of today’s session on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth closed negative as Premier Breweries Plc (PREMBREW) led the 24 gainers chart, while Northern Nigeria Flour Mills Plc (NNFM) topped the 27 losers chart.
