This week, the equities market saw bearish sentiment prevailing in four out of five trading sessions, resulting in a marginal 35bps decline in the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) to close at 99,671.28 points. Consequently, market capitalization also decreased by 0.3% week-on-week to ₦56.4tn, while the year-to-date (YTD) return moderated to 33.3% from 33.8% previously.
The disparity between the ASI’s decline and market capitalization was influenced by the technical suspension of trading in eight stocks, including Unity Bank, Mutual Benefits Assurance, and NPF Microfinance Bank, due to their failure to comply with exchange rules on earnings filing. Market activity showed improvement with average volume and value traded increasing by 22.4% and 173.5% week-on-week, reaching 553.1 million units and ₦17.0bn respectively. Fidelity Bank (726.5 million units), Ellah Lakes Plc (276.5 million units), and Veritas Kapital Assurance (86.0 million units) were the most actively traded stocks by volume, while Fidelity Bank (₦7.6bn), GTCO (₦3.7bn), and Zenith Bank (₦2.3bn) led in terms of value traded.
A total turnover of 2.765 billion shares worth N85.23 billion in 40,796 deals was traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 2.26 billion shares valued at N31.17 billion that exchanged hands last week in 42,851 deals. The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.89 billion shares valued at N24.33 billion traded in 21,447 deals; thus contributing 68.42% and 28.54% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Agriculture Industry followed with 388.21 million shares worth N1.54 billion in 1,865 deals. The third place was the Utilities Industry, with a turnover of 121.61 million shares worth N50.61 billion in 627 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Fidelity Bank Plc, Ellah Lakes Plc and Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 1.335 billion shares worth N16.052 billion in 4,562 deals, contributing 48.29% and 18.83% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
In our coverage sectors, performance exhibited a mixed outcome with gains in two indices offset by losses in three others. The Oil and Gas index led gainers, rising by 1.38% week-on-week, driven by strong performances from ETERNA (+18.4%) and CONOIL (+8.3%). Similarly, the Industrial Goods index edged up by 5 basis points, supported by increased buying interest in stocks such as OMATEK (+9.2%), CUTIX (+10.0%), and WAPCO (+0.8%). Conversely, the Banking index emerged as the top decliner, declining by 2.08% week-on-week, attributed to selling pressure in WEMABANK (-5.7%), STERLING (-5.2%), and UBA (-4.0%). The Insurance and Consumer Goods indices also recorded marginal declines of 0.36% and 0.09% respectively, following losses in UNIVINSURE (-2.7%), NEM (-2.4%), CHAMPION (-7.0%), and INTBREW (-2.6%).
Market breadth, a gauge of investor sentiment, remained at -0.1x, unchanged from the previous week, indicating a balance between stocks that gained, lost, and closed flat. Leading performers included LIVESTOCK (+27.0%), ABC Transport (+20.3%), and ETERNA (+18.4%), while notable underperformers included AFRIPRUD (-17.8%), THOMASWY (-10.0%), and PZ (-10.0%).