Nigerian Stock Investors Gain N390 Billion Last week

The Nigerian Stock Exchange closed strong last week after the Central Bank of Nigeria led monetary policy lowered the interest rate by 100 basis points to 11.5 percent, down from 12.5 percent.

Investors jumped on undervalued stocks in anticipation that cheap loans would stimulate growth in companies of listed stocks and boost economic productivity.

Last week, investors traded total shares of 1.567 billion valued at N20.559 billion in 18,396 transactions, higher than the 1.139 billion shares worth N12.692 billion that were exchanged in 17,109 deals a week before.

In terms of volume traded, the financial services sector led with 1.178 billion shares valued at N9.180 billion exchanged in 9,900 transactions. The sector contributed 75.14 percent and 44.65 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.

This was followed by the consumer goods sector with 90.002 million shares worth N1.688 billion in 2,715 deals. The ICT sector came third with a turnover of 84.667 million shares valued at N5.786 billion in 771 deals.

The top three most traded stocks during the week were Sterling Bank, FBN Holdings Plc and Zenith Bank Plc. Together, the three accounted for 612.805 million shares worth N4.311 billion in 3,739 deals and contributed 39.10 percent and 20.97 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.

The market capitalisation of listed equities rose by 2.92 percent or gained N390 billion to close the week at N13.755 trillion. While the NSE All-Share Index gained 2.92 percent or 746.77 basis points from 25,572.57 bps to close the week at 26.319.34 bps.

The Exchange quarter-to-date gain improved to 7.52 percent with September gain accounting for half of the total gain at 3.92 percent.

Similarly, the year-to-date decline moderated to -1.95 percent with the overall improvement in the value of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.