The activities of investors positioning themselves ahead of the dividend-paying season led to another positive week as the Nigerian Exchange gained N2.12tn in the past week.
The All-Share Index appreciated by 3.71 per cent week-on-week, reaching 105,085.25 index points.
In tune with the movement of the ASI, the total market capitalisation of listed equities rose by 3.71 per cent to close the week at N59.42tn, indicating a 45.21 per cent year-to-date returns for investors.
The surge was propelled by renewed bullish sentiment in financial stocks on the back of expected corporate releases.
Despite the overall bullish sentiment and the upward repricing of select stocks, trading activity witnessed a lacklustre performance throughout the week.
The tally of weekly deals dipped to 1.773 billion shares worth N52.87bn exchanged in 44,713 deals, lower than 2.157 billion units of shares valued at N108.82bn that exchanged hands in the previous week in 51,556 deals.
Across sectors, most performance was positive, with gains observed in the banking index (12.84 per cent WoW), Consumer goods (1.41 per cent WoW), NGX Insurance index (2.52 per cent WoW), and the industrial sector (0.20 per cent WoW).
However, NGXOILGAS (-0.11 per cent WoW) closes in the negative zone for the week, attributed to the adverse price movements in Oando and Eterna Plc.
The financial services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.136 billion shares valued at N23.19bn traded in 19,896 deals; contributing 64.04 per cent and 43.86 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The conglomerate industry followed with 339.390 million shares worth N5.87bn in 3,650 deals.
The third place was the consumer goods industry, with a turnover of 82.645 million shares worth N6.72bn in 6,155 deals.
The top three securities with the highest volume of activities included Transnational Corporation Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc and Access Holdings Plc, which jointly accounted for 677.439 million shares worth N17.29b in 7,789 deals, contributing 38.21 per cent and 32.70 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.
Leading the gainers’ chart at the end of the week were: Julius Berger, which gained 30.58 per cent to close at N72.60; Omatek Ventures which added 23.08 per cent to close at N0.80 and MTN Nigeria which appreciated by 20.49 per cent to close at N267.80.
On the losers’ table were International Energy Insurance Plc, which depreciated by 27.38 per cent to close at N1.22 per unit, SUNU Assurances lost 19.11 per cent to close at N1.27 and LASACO Assurance lost 14.53 per cent to close at N2.
While analysts expect the prevailing bullish sentiment to persist, there may be an observable impact on the equity market as investors digest the recently published inflation report as well as the outcome of the recent treasury bills auction where rates declined.
