Last week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, a total of 17.498 billion equities valued N500.762 billion exchanged hands in 142,082 deals versus the 5.390 billion equities worth N107.811 billion traded in 134,390 deals a week earlier.
Customs Street opened its doors to investors in the week in four days because of the public holiday observed on Tuesday in honour of former President Muhammadu Buhari, who died on Sunday in London.
As usual, it was a busy week for financial stocks, especially the banking end of the sector, with First Holdco, FCMB Group, and Fidelity Bank dominating the activity chart with the sale of 13.229 billion units for N367.498 billion in 10,083 deals, contributing 75.60 per cent and 73.39 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively.
The financial services industry traded 15.771 billion shares valued at N437.763 billion in 66,725 deals, accounting for 90.13 per cent and 87.42 per cent of the total trading volume and value, respectively.
The ICT counter exchanged 325.134 million stocks worth N3.492 billion in 9,028 deals, and the consumer goods sector transacted 313.424 million equities valued at N20.162 billion in 14,917 deals.
Business Post reports that 49 stocks appreciated in the week versus 90 stocks a week earlier, 54 shares depreciated versus 16 shares in the preceding week, and 44 equities remained unchanged versus 41 equities in the previous week.
Eunisell gained 32.59 per cent to quote at N17.90, BUA Cement appreciated by 31.28 per cent to N123.40, ABC Transport improved by 28.41 per cent to N5.65, Industrial and Medical Gases chalked up 24.85 per cent to N42.45, and Secure Electronic Technology jumped by 21.00 per cent to N1.21.
On the flip side, Academy Press lost 24.32 per cent to close at N7.00, RT Briscoe declined by 22.73 per cent to N3.40, Cutix shed 19.57 per cent to N3.70, Caverton depreciated by 19.25 per cent to N6.46, and Champion Breweries decreased by 17.52 per cent to N12.29.
When trading closed for the week last Friday, the All-Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation appreciated week-on-week by 4.31 per cent to 131,585.66 points and N83.241 trillion, respectively.
Also, all other indices finished higher except the insurance, AseM, energy, growth and sovereign bond indices, which fell by 3.65 per cent, 9.56 per cent, 0.76 per cent, 4.80 per cent and 0.57 per cent, respectively.