By Dipo Olowookere
Transactions at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited significantly went down last week as investors trimmed their exposure to local stocks amid macroeconomic headwinds.
This came as traders critically looked at inflation numbers released by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in the preceding weekend, as well as the meeting between President Bola Tinubu and the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ms Kristalina Georgieva, at the G20 Summit held in Brazil in the week.
Data obtained by Business Post from the bourse showed that in the period under review, investors transacted 1.482 billion shares worth N38.875 billion in 44,795 deals compared with the 6.468 billion shares valued at N75.745 billion traded in 48,804 deals in the previous week.
Financial stocks topped the activity chart with 1.068 billion units valued at N19.820 billion traded in 21,001 deals, contributing 72.04 per cent and 50.98 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively.
Energy shares followed with 103.143 million units sold for N11.351 billion in 8,200 deals, and consumer goods equities traded 77.198 million units worth N2.845 billion in 4,266 deals.
The trio of Access Holdings, United Capital, and UBA accounted for 433.794 million shares valued at N10.274 billion in 8,790 deals, contributing 29.27 per cent and 26.43 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively.
In the week, 39 stocks appreciated versus 31 stocks in the previous week, as 46 shares depreciated compared with 42 shares in the previous week, and 67 equities closed flat, in contrast to 79 equities a week earlier.
John Holt was the toast of investors during the week, chalking up 60.50 per cent to close at N7.72, Eunisell appreciated by 46.22 per cent to N11.99, Tantalizers gained 43.90 per cent to settle at N1.18, Sunu Assurances rose by 32.04 per cent to N2.72, and Flour Mills jumped by 22.89 per cent to N78.65.
On the flip side, DAAR Communications slumped by 12.12 per cent to finish at 58 Kobo, Oando shed 10.44 per cent to finish at N62.65, VFD Group retreated by 10.00 per cent to N40.50, Abbey Mortgage Bank dropped 9.77 per cent to N2.40, and Ellah Lakes went down by 7.36 per cent to N3.40.
After the five-day trading week, the All-Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation grew by 0.50 per cent to 97,722.28 points and N59.215 trillion, respectively.
Similarly, all other indices finished higher except the energy, industrial goods sectors, which depreciated by 0.29 per cent and 0.20 per cent apiece, while the ASeM and sovereign bond indices closed flat.