The All-Share index ends the week down 0.42% in bearish territory

Trading activities on the Nigerian equities market wrapped up the week on a bearish note, with the NGX All-Share Index falling by 0.42% Week-on-Week (WoW) to conclude at 66,915.41 points. This decline comes on the heels of a less-than-stellar performance compared to the previous week when the index closed at 67,200.69 points. The market capitalization, too, followed this downward trend, settling at N36.76 trillion.

A closer look at the sectoral indices reveals that all other indices, except for NGX CG, NGX Premium, NGX Banking, NGX AFR Bank Value, NGX AFR Div. Yield, NGX MERI Value, and NGX Sovereign Bond, experienced a decrease. These exceptions saw gains of 0.47%, 0.54%, 3.52%, 1.82%, 3.24%, 2.99%, and 3.08%, respectively, while the NGX ASeM index remained flat.

Taking a broader perspective, the NGX All-Share Index registered a Month-to-Date (MtD) growth of 0.80% and a Year-to-Date (YtD) increase of 30.56%.

Equity Market Performance:
Trading volume for the week amounted to 1.496 billion share units with a total value of N24.283 billion, encompassing 29,298 deals. This slightly edged down compared to the previous week, which saw 1.470 billion share units valued at N24.430 billion traded.

The Financial Services Industry led the charge, trading 1.047 billion shares worth N12.709 billion in 13,667 deals, constituting 69.99% and 52.34% of the total turnover volume and value, respectively. The ICT Industry came in second, with 94.997 million shares valued at N1.445 billion in 1,982 deals. The Conglomerates Industry secured the third position, trading 80.655 million shares worth N526.409 million across 1,459 deals.

United Bank for Africa (UBA), Fidelity Bank (FIDELITYBK), and Access Holdings (ACCESSCORP) emerged as the top three stocks in terms of trading volume, collectively transacting 447.125 million shares with a total value of N6.488 billion through 4,913 deals. They contributed 29.88% and 26.72% to the overall equity turnover volume and value, respectively.

Top Gainers (by Percentage):
1. THOMASWY: +29.64% to close at N3.63
2. DAARCOMM: +9.52% to close at N0.23
3. JBERGER: +9.09% to close at N36.00
4. UBA: +8.26% to close at N19.00
5. LEARNAFRICA: +6.45% to close at N3.30

Top Losers (by Percentage):
1. SOVRENINS: -17.50% to close at N0.33
2. CADBURY: -16.00% to close at N12.60
3. STANBIC: -13.06% to close at N69.55
4. FLOURMILL: -11.88% to close at N28.20
5. OKOMU: -9.96% to close at N236.80

Swots and Fugaz Watch:
The week saw limited changes in the stock prices of firms valued over one trillion Naira. DANGCEM, BUAFOOD, BUACEMENT, SEPLAT, and AIRTELAFRI remained steady without any variations in their share prices. ZENITH and GTCO, on the other hand, experienced price appreciation, with gains of 3.28% and 2.31%, respectively. However, MTNN saw a slight decline of 0.2% Week-on-Week.

The majority of Tier-1 Banks noted share price appreciation during the trading week, in line with heightened trading activity in the financial services sector. United Bank for Africa (UBA), Access Holdings (ACCESSCORP), Zenith Bank (ZENITH), and GT Bank (GTCO) recorded increases of +8.26%, +3.79%, +3.28%, and +2.31%, respectively. In contrast, First Bank (FBNH) recorded a -1.24% decrease in its share price.