The financial services industry dominated in volume terms at the end of last week’s transactions on the equities sector of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).
It led the activity chart with 1.4 billion shares valued at N25.7 billion in 20,132 deals, contributing 67.8 per cent to the total equity turnover volume.
Following the financial sector, last week was the oil & gas industry with 276.7 million units worth N6 billion in 6,848 deals.
The services industry ranked third with a turnover of 101.2 million shares worth N682 million in 2,475 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Guaranty Trust Holdings Company Plc, Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc, and Japaul Gold & Ventures Plc accounted for 674.2 million shares worth N16,055 billion in 3,977 deals, contributing 33.2 per cent to the total equity turnover volume.
Consequently, a total turnover of 2 billion shares worth N42.2 billion was recorded in 45,157 deals by investors on the floor of the exchange, in contrast to a total of 2.679 billion units, valued at N49.017 billion that changed hands in 47,451 deals during the preceding week.
On the price movement chart, the nation’s bourse reversed last week’s gains as the NGX All-Share Index and market capitalisation depreciated by 1.51 per cent to close the week at 97,100.31 and N55.132 trillion respectively, amid 13.5 per cent sell-off in BUAcement with the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderating to -0.7 per cent and +29.9 per cent, respectively.
Similarly, all other indices finished lower except NGX Insurance, NGX Consumer Goods, NGX Oil & Gas, NGX Lotus II, and NGX Growth which appreciated by 0.79 per cent, 0.37 per cent, 5.25 per cent, 0.42 per cent, and 6.14 per cent respectively, while the NGX ASeM index closed flat.
Reacting to market performance, analysts at Codros Capital Research said: ” Looking ahead, we still expect bearish sentiments to remain the key theme as investors remain cautious and continue to exhibit weak appetite for equities.
“Furthermore, we believe the developments in the macroeconomic landscape and corporate actions of the upcoming earnings season will influence investors’ sentiments over the near term.”
Vetiva Dealings and Brokerage said: “The market will remain in a wait-and-see stance, as the capital market environment remains unfavorable for equities; that said, we expect to see cherry-picking action in the market as investors pursue fundamentally sound names at attractive levels.”
A total of 149,795 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs), valued at N7.9 million were traded in 139 deals compared with a total of 20,375 units valued at N5.9 million were transacted during the preceding week while 36,534 units of bonds valued at N36.4 million were traded in 29 deals compared to a total of 184,955 units valued at N187.8 million transacted in 40 deals on August 9, 2024.
Further breakdown of last week’s transactions indicated that 39 equities appreciated during the week lower than 46 equities in the previous week while 66 equities depreciated higher than 38 recorded in the previous week.
Meanwhile, the total turnover for the FX Spot and Derivatives markets for the week ended August 16, 2024, was $907.53 million, an increase of 12.42 percent ($100.24 million) from $807.29 million reported for the week ended August 9, 2024.
According to FMDQ Securities Exchange, the week-on-week (WoW) increase in total turnover was jointly driven by the 11.62 per cent ($93.20 million) increase in FX Spot turnover, which recorded a total value of $895.49 million, compared to $802.29 million recorded in the week ended August 9, 2024, and the 140.80 per cent ($7.04 million) increase in FX Derivatives turnover.
The exchange said the Week on Week (WoW) increase in FX Derivatives turnover was solely driven by the 140.80 per cent ($7.04 million) increase in FX Forwards turnover, whilst there was a continued lack of activity in both the Exchange Traded FX Futures and Cleared Naira-Settled Non-Deliverable Forwards markets.
