Stock Market Closed in the Red Last Week, Sheds N12 Billion Amid Weak Sentiment

The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) closed in the red last week on weak market sentiment and low trading activity despite the strong positive financial statements released in the third quarter.

Trading activity drop across the Exchange as investors traded 1.428 billion shares worth N12.373 billion in 23,987 deals during the week, against a total of 3.001 billion shares valued at N34.547 billion that exchanged hands in 25,932 transactions in the previous week.

The Financial Services Industry led the activity chart with 1.010 billion shares valued at N7.992 billion traded in 12,208 deals. Therefore, contributing 70.75 percent and 64.60 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Conglomerates Industry followed with 94.729 million shares worth N207.829 million in 878 deals. In third place was Consumer Goods Industry, with a turnover of 62.779 million shares worth N1.326 billion in 3,814 deals.

FBN Holdings Plc, Sterling Bank Plc and United Bank for Africa Plc were the three most traded stocks for the week. The three accounted for 402.924 million shares worth N3.063 billion in 3,208 deals and contributed 28.22 percent and 24.76 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.

Market value dropped by N12 billion from N21.938 trillion recorded in the previous week to N21.926 trillion last week. The NGX All-Share Index also depreciated by 24.10 index points or 0.06 percent from 42,038.60 index points to 42,014.50 index points last week.

All other indices finished lower with the exception of NGX Main Board, NGX Insurance, NGX MERI Growth, NGX Lotus II and NGX Industrial Goods indices which appreciated by 0.32 percent, 0.99 percent, 0.09 percent, 0.15 percent and 0.88 percent respectively, while the NGX ASeM Index closed flat.

The Exchange year-to-date return moderated to 4.33 percent from 4.52 percent recorded in the previous week.

Twenty-three equities appreciated in price during the week, lower than forty-seven equities in the previous week. Forty-three equities depreciated in price, higher than twenty-five equities in the previous week, while ninety equities remained unchanged higher than eighty-four equities recorded in the previous week.