Bulls sustain hold on market indices in six trading days

The rally witnessed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continued at the end of transactions last week, as All-Share Index and market capitalisation closed higher at to consolidate seven-session bullish trading.

The seven days of the successive rally has been propelled by the listing of MTN Nigeria Communications Plc by way of introduction, as the shares which were listed at N90 each have appreciated to N140 per share

Consequently, the NSE All-share index and market capitalisation appreciated by 6.96 per cent to close the week at 30,881.29 points and N13.602 trillion respectively.

The unprecedented appreciation been blamed on the unavailability of the share and the fact that most of the trading has been via cross deals from the day it was listed.

However, the inflow of liquidity pushing the aforementioned stocks would not trickle down to other stocks

For instance, at the end of trading last week Monday, market breadth was negative, with 17 gainers against 20 losers. Similarly, at the end of transactions on Tuesday, the market breadth remained in the negative region with 16 gainers against 20 decliners.

At close of trading on Wednesday, 12 stocks appreciated in price, while 27 constituted the loser’s chart.

Also, on Thursday, market breadth remained in the negative region with 14 gainers against 24 losers. However, price gains outweighed losses on Friday, with 21 gainers and 14 losers.

All other indices finished lower with the exception of the NSE 30, NSE Premium, NSE Insurance, NSE MERI Growth, NSE Lotus II and NSE Industrial Goods Indices that appreciated by 0.81 per cent, 14.09 per cent 1.18 per cent, 1.42 per cent, 3.45 per cent and 6.12 per cent respectively.

About 30 equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than 16 in the previous week. 40 equities depreciated in price, lower two equities of the previous week, while 98 equities remained unchanged, lower than one hundred and 109 equities recorded in the preceding week.

Furthermore, a total turnover of 1.698 billion shares worth N57.895 billion in 24,328 deals were traded by investors on the floor of the exchange in contrast to a total of 1.172 billion shares valued at N17.887 billion that exchanged hands last week in 18,380 deals.

The financial services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.121 billion shares valued at N8.708 billion traded in 13,380 deals; thus contributing 66.0 per cent to the total equity turnover volume.

The ICT Industry followed with 324.332 million shares worth N40.717 billion in 3,330 deals. The third place was Consumer Goods Industry with a turnover of 75.831 million shares worth N2.948 billion in 2,957 deals.

Trading in the top three equities namely, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 726.103 million shares worth N41.622 billion in 4,972 deals, contributing 42.75% to the total turnover volume.