The Nigerian stock market experienced a slight decline in the week ending May 19, 2023, resulting in the All-Share Index (ASI) closing in the negative territory.
According to the weekly stock market report released by the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), the ASI dropped by 0.05% during this period.
The benchmark index, ASI, retreated from its previous week’s closing level of 52,214.62 points to settle at 52,187.93 points. Moreover, the market capitalisation concluded the week at N28.417 trillion.
As a result of this decline, the month-to-date performance of the Nigerian stock market stood at -0.41%, while the year-to-date gain remained at 1.83%.
Among the various indexes tracked by the NGX, several witnessed depreciation. The NGX Main Board, NGX 30, NGX Oil & Gas, NGX Lotus II, NGX Industrial Goods, and NGX Growth indexes experienced declines of 0.64%, 0.09%, 1.67%, 0.66%, 0.03%, and 0.32%, respectively. Conversely, the NGX ASeM and NGX Sovereign Bond indices remained unchanged. However, all other indices closed higher.
In terms of trading activity, investors exchanged 3.029 billion shares valued at N33.626 billion in a total of 29,505 trades last week. This was a decrease compared to the previous week when 3.602 billion shares worth N36.451 billion were traded in 27,801 deals.
The Financial Services Industry dominated the stock turnover volume and value, contributing 69.17% and 64.97% respectively. This industry recorded a total of 2.095 billion shares valued at N21.847 billion, traded in 14,008 deals. The Conglomerates Industry followed with 3,129 transactions involving 398.558 million shares worth N1.185 billion. The Services Industry ranked third, with 1,317 transactions totaling 270.111 million shares valued at N1.853 billion.
The top three stocks by volume and value were Fidelity Bank Plc, Access Holdings Plc, and Transnational Corporation Plc, with a total of 1.328 billion shares worth N8.159 billion traded in 5,286 transactions. These stocks accounted for 43.84% and 24.26% of the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.
During the week, forty-four stocks experienced a decline in price compared to forty-eight stocks in the previous week. Meanwhile, eighty-five stocks remained unchanged, up from seventy-eight in the preceding week, and twenty-seven stocks saw a price decline, which was lower than the thirty stocks reported in the previous week.