NGX Trading Value Plunges 67% to N208.41bn as Block-Driven Turnover Fades

Trading value on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) plunged 67.3% to N208.41 billion last week as the unusually large transactions that drove turnover to N637.83 billion in the previous week faded.

Investors traded 2.829 billion shares worth N208.407 billion in 192,158 deals during the week ended November 6, compared with 7.619 billion shares valued at N637.826 billion in 192,138 deals in the preceding week.

Trading volume consequently dropped 62.9%, while value declined 67.3%.

However, the number of deals remained almost completely unchanged, increasing by just 20 transactions from 192,138 to 192,158.

The divergence between turnover and deal count indicates that the sharp decline in market activity was driven largely by the disappearance of the exceptionally large transactions recorded in the preceding week rather than a similar decline in the number of trades executed by investors.

The previous week’s activity was heavily concentrated in First HoldCo, GTCO and UBA.

The three financial stocks accounted for 6.096 billion shares valued at N544.438 billion, representing 80.02% of the entire market’s trading volume and 85.36% of value during that week.

That concentration dropped substantially last week.

First HoldCo, Access Holdings and Honeywell Flour Mills emerged as the three most actively traded equities by volume, accounting for 992.859 million shares worth N71.044 billion.

Their combined transactions represented just 35.10% of total equity volume and 34.09% of trading value.

The change shows how heavily the previous week’s record turnover depended on unusually large transactions concentrated in a handful of financial stocks.

Financial Services remained the dominant sector last week, but its contribution to overall market activity also declined significantly.

The sector recorded 1.983 billion shares valued at N126.627 billion in 84,899 deals, representing 70.11% of total volume and 60.76% of value.

In the preceding week, Financial Services had accounted for 6.990 billion shares worth N573.492 billion, equivalent to 91.75% of market volume and 89.91% of value.

This means financial-sector trading volume fell approximately 71.6% week-on-week, while value declined about 77.9%.

The Consumer Goods sector followed with 245.568 million shares worth N15.852 billion, while Agriculture recorded 160.610 million shares valued at N3.283 billion.

Daily trading figures also showed that activity was uneven throughout the week.

Turnover stood at N47.48 billion on Monday before dropping to N22.58 billion on Tuesday. It recovered to N37.45 billion on Wednesday and surged to N74.06 billion on Thursday before falling back to N26.84 billion on Friday.

Thursday alone accounted for about 35.5% of the entire week’s trading value.

The elevated activity on that session coincided with unusually heavy turnover in First HoldCo, which dominated market activity during the day.

The sharp week-on-week decline in turnover also came as the equities market lost ground.

The NGX All-Share Index declined 2.13% from 254,299.49 to 248,877.22, while market breadth weakened as 57 stocks declined against 29 gainers.

The latest numbers therefore provide a clearer picture of the previous week’s N637.83 billion turnover.

Rather than representing a sustained expansion in trading activity across the entire market, much of that surge was concentrated in exceptionally large transactions involving a small number of financial stocks.

With those transactions substantially reduced last week, trading value fell back to N208.41 billion even though investors executed virtually the same number of deals.