Equities Market Sheds N30bn Over Investors Profit-taking

Theequities market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) closed last week trading activities with a decline of by N30billion, due to investors profit-taking in Seplat Petroleum, Guaranty Trust Holdings Plc (GTCO), and Airtel Africa, among other highly capitalised stocks.

Data obtained from the Exchange Limited show that last week trading sessions witnessed positive and negative sentiments, as the overall market capitalization of listed companies dropped by N30billion to N25.406trillion as against N25.436 trillion it opened last Monday.

Also, the All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 0.13 per cent or 61.82basis points week-on-week (w/w) to close at 47,140.48 basis points from 47,202.30basis points it opened for trading.

Accordingly, the Month-till-Date (MtD) and Year-till-Date (YtD) return settled at 1.1 per cent and 10.4per cent, respectively.

Performance across sectors was mixed, as the NGX Consumer Goods index gained 2.3per cent and NGX Insurance added one per cent, while the NGX Oil and Gas dropped by 3.4per cent and NGX Banking dropped by 0.7per cent.

However, the Exchange weekly report noted that a total turnover of 1.713 billion shares worth N30.764 billion in 24,767 deals was traded last week by investors in contrast to a total of 1.331 billion shares valued at N22.700 billion that exchanged hands in prior’s week 27,822 deals.

The report stated that: “The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.064 billion shares valued at N12.201 billion traded in 11,708 deals; thus contributing 62.14per cent and 39.66 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

“The Consumer Goods Industry followed with 156.077 million shares worth N5.004 billion in 4,877 deals. The third place was The Conglomerates Industry, with a turnover of 113.554 million shares worth N309.833 million in 1,062 deals.

“Trading in the top three equities namely Access Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc, (measured by volume) accounted for 500.778 million shares worth N7.455 billion in 3,603 deals, contributing 29.23 per cent and 24.23 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.”