Equities market investors gain N409 billion on NGX in one week

Despite Nigeria’s ongoing economic challenges, the equity market has seen significant gains of N409 billion in the past week. The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) experienced a marginal increase in trading activities, leading to a 1.12 percent week-on-week rise in the All-Share Index, reaching 67,200.69 points.

According to data from NGX over the past week, the market capitalization of listed equities also increased by 1 percent week-on-week, reaching N36.919 trillion, and the year-to-date return of the All-Share Index rose to 31.12 percent.

Analysts at Cowry Assets Management Limited noted in their weekly report that the market remained in a consolidation range with low trading volume but had a positive market breadth. The positive trend was attributed to growing expectations for the Q3 earnings season, despite macroeconomic policy uncertainties and corporate announcements of closed periods.

During the review week, four out of five trading sessions recorded bullish movements, resulting in the N409 billion gains, primarily driven by positive price movements in the Industrial goods index.

Sectoral performance was mostly positive, with all other indices finishing higher, except for NGX Consumer Goods, NGX Banking, NGX AFR Bank Value, NGX MERI Growth, and NGX Sovereign Bond, which depreciated by 0.16 percent, 0.78 percent, 0.94 percent, 0.32 percent, and 0.56 percent, respectively. On the other hand, the NGX Premium and NGX ASeM indices closed flat.

Regarding trading volume, investors traded over 1.470 billion shares worth N24.431 billion in 29,683 deals on the exchange floor. This was compared to the previous week when 2.410 billion shares valued at N22.115 billion were traded in 27,965 deals.

The Financial Services Industry led the activity chart with 929.631 million shares valued at N12.948 billion traded in 13,626 deals, contributing 63.25 percent and 53.00 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively. The Healthcare Industry followed with 171.236 million shares worth N334.792 million traded in 452 deals.

The Oil and Gas Industry ranked third in turnover, with 90.156 million shares worth N5.099 billion traded in 2,769 deals.

Access Holdings Plc, Neimeth International Pharmaceutical Plc, and Fidelity Bank Plc were the top three stocks based on volume. They accounted for 502.843 million shares worth N4.388 billion exchanged in 3,117 deals, contributing 34.21 percent and 17.96 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.