Financial stocks lead activities, contribute N5.6b to NGX turnover

The financial services industry dominated in volume terms at the end of last week’s transactions at the capital market.

It led the activity chart with 561.7 million shares valued at N5.6 billion traded in 8,388 deals, contributing 68.25 per cent to the total equities’ turnover volume.

The ICT Industry followed with 91.819 million shares worth N1.478 billion in 1,532 deals. The third place was the consumer goods Industry, with a turnover of 42.546 million shares worth N3.396 billion in 2,639 deals.

Trading in the top three equities namely FBN Holdings Plc, eTranzact International Plc and United Bank for Africa Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 323.474 million shares valued at N2.520 billion in 1,457 deals, contributing 39.3 per cent to the total equity turnover.

A turnover of 823 million shares worth N12.2 billion was recorded in 17,482 deals by investors on the floor of the Exchange, lower than a total of 1.51 billion units valued at N13.5 billion that changed hands in 20,074 deals during the preceding week.

A total of 2,378 units of exchange-traded products (ETPs) valued at N1.5 million were traded this week in 22 deals compared with a total of 3,091 units valued at N13 million transacted in 41 deals during the preceding week.

The NGX all-share index (ASI) and market capitalisation depreciated by 0.6 per cent to close the week at 49,370.62 points and N26.629 trillion respectively.

Similarly, all other indices finished lower except the NGX Premium, NGX Banking, NGX-AFR Bank Value and NGX Industrial Goods Indices which appreciated by 0.12 per cent, 0.65 per cent, 0.07 and 0.28 per cent while the NGX ASM and growth indices closed flat.

Particularly, selloffs in bellwether stocks, especially Okomu oil (-10.0.per cent), Presco (-10.0 per cent), Access corp (-5.7 per cent), and WAPCO (-10.0 per cent), drove the weekly loss.

Analysts at Cordros Capital said: “We expect market performance to remain mixed in the coming week as investors rotate their portfolios towards stocks with attractive dividend yields, which could be matched by intermittent profit-taking activities.

“Notwithstanding, we advise investors to take positions in only fundamentally justified stocks as the weak macro story remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.”

Vetiva Dealings and Brokerage said: “This week’s bearish sentiment can be seen in the 59bps w/w dip in the ASI and with the current sentiment in the market, we expect neutral to negative sessions next week with pockets of positive close across sectors.”