Equities investors lose over $1bln as Nigerian Exchange ASI dips by 2.2% WoW

PHOTO

At the Nigerian Exchange Limited last week, having gained in one of five trading sessions, the benchmark index closed 2.18 per cent lower, eroding all the gains of the past week.

Basically, profit-taking in MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement, Nestle Nigeria and Seplat Energy drove the broader index loss, as their respective shares depreciated by 2.95 per cent, 6.73 per cent, 0.10 per cent and 0.81 per cent at the end of the five-day trading sessions.

The All-Share Index (ASI) lost by 2.18 per cent from 54,085.30 basis points recorded as of the end of the previous week to close last week at 52,908.24 index points.

Consequently, the Year-to-Date (YtD) return slumped to 23.86 per cent, while the market capitalisation closed at N28.52 trillion as investors lost N634.55 billion from their net worth in a week.

A total turnover of 28.736 billion shares worth N209.060 billion in 23,688 deals was traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.840 billion shares valued at N27.286 billion that exchanged hands last week in 27,273 deals.

For the week under review, the Financial Services Industry, measured by volume, led the activity chart with 28.048 billion shares valued at N198.017 billion traded in 10,416 deals; thus contributing 97.61 per cent and 94.72 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The Conglomerates Industry followed with 434.845 million shares worth N1.339 billion in 1,225 deals. The third place was The Consumer Goods Industry, with a turnover of 74.111 million shares worth N2.853 billion in 3,835 deals.

Trading in the top three equities namely Union Bank Of Nigeria Plc, Transnational Corporation Plc and FBN Holdings Plc, measured by volume, accounted for 27.841 million shares worth N193.488 billion in 1,872 deals, contributing 96.89 per cent and 92.55 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Despite the bearish performance by the market, which is majorly attributable to losses seen in Conoil, Oresco and Okomu Oilpalm, three sectoral indexes post gains for the week. They are the NGX Insurance, NGX AFR Div Yield and NGX Growth indexes. NGX ASeM and NGX Sovereign Bond closed flat.