By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday ended the week on red as all-share index (ASI) and market capitalisation dipped by 0.92 percent to close at 34,388.21 and N11.678 trillion.
In the same vein, five (5) indices finished lower during the week with the exception of the NSE Banking, NSE Insurance and NSE Industrial Goods indices that rose by 2.02 percent, 0.57 percent and 1.42 percent respectively, according to the weekly stock market report from the Nigeria’s Exchange.
“Investors continued to trade with caution this week as lack of a positive catalyst, poor Q1 results and headwinds created by the current cash crunch in the economy weighed on the market,” Cordros weekly market update affirmed.
The Cordros report further affirmed that with headwinds on the rise again, investors appeared pessimistic this week as trading was bearish all week with the biggest loss, a 0.50 percent decline recorded on Wednesday.
The NSE’s report says a turnover of 1.584 billion shares worth N20.151 billion in 23,279 deals were traded this week by investors on the Nigerian equities market compared to a total of 1.169 billion shares valued at N11.961 billion that exchanged hands last week in 17,769 deals.
According to the NSE, the Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.088 billion shares valued at N8.991 billion traded in 13,220 deals; thus contributing 68.66 percent and 44.62 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. “The Conglomerates Industry followed with a turnover of 227.840 million shares worth N920.617 million in 1,082 deals. The third place was occupied by the Consumer Goods Industry with 121.859 million shares worth N7.703 billion in 4,123 deals,” the report added.
The report said trading in the shares of one of Africa’s top tier lenders, United Bank for Africa Plc, conglomerate, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, and Access Bank Plc, (measured by volume) accounted for 678.964 million shares worth N3.247 billion in 2,943 deals, contributing 42.85 percent and 16.11 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Cordros reported that 32 gainers and 45 losers were recorded this week with Nigeria’s mid tier bank, Unity Bank Plc declining the most for the second consecutive week following its capital reconstruction.
At the end of the week’s transactions on the Nigerian bourse, a summary of price changes shows that 32 equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than 31 reported the previous week.
On the contrary, 45 equities dipped in price, higher than 41of the past week, while 116 remained unchanged lower than 120 equities recorded the preceding week.
