| Investors on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, have gained N468 billion in three weeks, as the positive run in the stock market continued last week. This sharply contracts the N660 billion loss suffered by investors last month on the NSE. Data from the NSE showed that market capitalization, which represents total value of all listed equities rose from N8.721 trillion three weeks ago (November 25), to close at N9.189 on Friday.
Also, the All Share Index, ASI, improved by the same margin to settle at 26,707.10 points from 25,740.83 points within the same period. These effectively trimmed the year-to-date loss in the stock market to -6.8 per cent compared to -11.55 per cent recorded three weeks ago. Capital market operators attributed these positive developments to portfolio realignment by bargain hunters who are investing in cheap stocks and those who are taking position to benefit from companies that usually declared dividend early in the year. According to the NSE, a turnover of 639.439 million shares worth N6.455 billion in 11,799 deals were traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange in contrast to a total of 823.547 million shares valued at N5.444 billion that exchanged hands last week in 11,634 deals. The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 491.758 million shares valued at N2.211 billion traded in 6,241 deals; thus contributing 76.90% and 34.25% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Conglomerates Industry followed with 64.507 million shares worth N58.500 million in 681 deals. The third place was occupied by the Consumer Goods Industry with a turnover of 54.901 million shares worth N3.307 billion in 2,386 deals. On the flip side, declines in Nigerian Breweries Plc., which fell by 2.1 per cent and Unilever Nigeria Plc. that declined by 12.1 per cent dragged the consumer goods sector down by 1.7 per cent, while the insurance sector dipped by 0.5 per cent against the backdrop of losses in Mansard Insurance, 4.1 per cent and Wapic insurance which dropped by 2.0 per cent. Source: Vanguard |
