Equities Market Shed N600 Billion Last Week

The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) dipped by N600 billion last week as the market value of listed equities plunged below N20 trillion.

The All-Share Index declined by 2.93 percent to settle at 38,324.07 basis points, while the market capitalisation closed at N19.98 trillion.

All other indices finished lower with the exception of NGX Oil and Gas, NGX Growth and NGX Sovereign Bond Indices which appreciated by 7.39 percent, 0.62 percent and 3.02 percent while the NSE ASeM Index closed flat.

Investors traded 1.05 billion shares valued at N11.54 billion in 17,233 transactions during the week, against the 840.33 million shares worth N9.56 billion traded in 13,239 transactions in the previous week.

The financial services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 674.74 million shares valued at N5.59bn traded in 9,405 deals, thus contributing 64.41 percent and 48.42 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The conglomerates industry followed with 94.52 million shares worth N630.37m in 828 deals, while the ICT Industry came third with a turnover of 87.14 million shares worth N630.90m in 539 deals.

Trading in the top three equities, namely Zenith Bank Plc, FBN Holdings Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc (measured by volume), accounted for 248.27 million shares worth N3.29bn in 2,988 deals, contributing 23.70 percent and 28.49 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Twenty-six equities appreciated in price during the week, compared to 33 in the previous week; 41 equities depreciated as against 19 equities in the previous week, while 93 equities remained unchanged as against 108 in the previous week.