ADEMOLA ADEBISI
Investors in the equities market lost N386 billion in four days trading as high –mid capitalised shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded profit-taking.
The federal government had declared Monday a public holiday to commemorate the Eid-al-Fitr celebrations and on Tuesday to Friday of trading, the market capitalisation dropped by 2.74 per cent to N13.72trillion from N14.102 trillion it opened for trading while NSE All-Share Index also dropped by 2.74 per cent to 37,862.53 basis points from 38,928.02 basis points last week.
All sessions in the holiday-shortened week closed in the red, causing the Year-to-Date and Month-to-Date return to turn negative at -0.64% and –one per cent, respectively.
Capital market analysts said profit-taking in Oil & gas, Industrial Goods and Banking shares was responsible for equities market decline last week.
The Oil & Gas Index was down by -5.94 per cent, recording the most loss, owing to significant sell pressures in Seplat Petroleum Development Company Ltd shares that closed the week at N685 from N754.90.
The Industrial Goods Index dropped by 3.39per cent, Banking Index depreciated by 1.96 per cent, and Consumer Goods Index was down by 0.50 per cent, while the Insurance appreciated by 3.39 per cent
Notably, Japaul Oil Plc remained the best performing stock for the third consecutive week, and remains the best performing in the month so far with a staggering 123.81 per cent Month till Date return.
Meanwhile, a total turnover of 1.097 billion shares worth N15.471 billion in 16,288 deals were traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 816.547 million shares valued at N9.425 billion traded in 9,263 deals; thus contributing 74.44per cent and 60.92per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Consumer Goods Industry followed with 76.361 million shares worth N2.992 billion in 2,545 deals. The third place was occupied by Oil and Gas Industry with a turnover of 51.600 million shares worth N594.590 million in 1,744 deals.
Trading in the Top Three Equities namely – United Bank for Africa Plc, Zenith International Bank Plc and FBN Holdings Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 325.580 million shares worth N4.854 billion in 3,381 deals, contributing 29.68per cent and 31.37per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
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