Nigeria’s Stock Market Loses N908 Billion in One Week

Activities on the trading floors of the Nigerian Stock Exchange dropped by N908 billion or 6.38 per cent last Friday as the NSE All-Share Index and market capitalisation closed the week at 36,816.29 and N13.336 trillion, respectively. Apart from the NSE ASeM Index, which closed flat, all other indices finished lower.

The NSE All-Share Index (which dropped to a six-month low) and market capitalisation fell further from the 39,323.62 and N14.244 trillion, respectively, which they depreciated to, having recorded 2.84 per cent loss the previous Friday.

The weekly report from the stock exchange revealed that 25 equities appreciated in price during the week, which is higher than 14 of the previous week. On the other hand, 48 equities depreciated in price, lower than 61 equities that lost the previous week. Ninety-six equities, however, remained unchanged, in contrast to the 94 that maintained their positions in the preceding week.

Trading sessions on the floors of the exchange only held for four days of the review week because of the May 29 public holiday declared to mark the Democracy Day celebration.

Further analysis showed that a total turnover of 2.699 billion shares worth N84.775 billion in 19,715 deals were traded this week by investors on the floors of the exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.372 billion shares valued at N16.022 billion that exchanged hands last week in 21,099 deals.

The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 2.451 billion shares valued at N78.417 billion, traded in 11,403 deals; thus, contributing 90.84 per cent and 92.50 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.

The Conglomerates Industry followed with 76.845 million shares worth N126.358 million in 835 deals. The third place was occupied by Consumer Goods Industry with a turnover of 64.437 million shares worth N4.427 billion in 3,491 deals.

Trading in the top three equities, namely, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Access Bank Plc and Zenith Bank International Plc (measured by volume), accounted for 1.626 billion shares worth N70.285 billion in 2,882 deals, contributing 60.23 per cent and 82.91per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.

Also traded during the week were a total of 22,080 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) valued at N393, 726.30, executed in 10 deals, compared with a total of 70 units valued at N1, 943.00 that was transacted last week in seven deals.

For bonds, a total of 6,433 units of federal government bonds valued at N6.599 million were traded this week in 12 deals, compared with a total of 10,754 units valued at N11.412 million transacted last week in five deals.

In its analysis, Afrinvest had attributed the downward movement of the market to the continued profit-taking activities of domestic and foreign investors in the equities market.

According to Afrinvest, “The weak performance of the domestic bourse was sustained all through May as investors continued to sell off on market bellwethers. Hence the All Share Index (ASI) fell 7.7 per cent in May (the largest monthly loss since January 2016). This performance is largely in line with the trend across emerging market equity indices as foreign investors continue to exit these markets.

“Last week, the All Share Index fell below the 40, 000.00 points mark for first time since January and during the week, fell to a 6-month low of 36,816.29 points.”