INVESTORS gained N636bn at the end of trading on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited last week.
The NGX All-Share Index and market capitalisation of equities listed on the NGX appreciated by 2.43 per cent to close at 49,638.94 and N26.761tn last week.
Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NGX banking and NGX Afr. bank value which depreciated by 1.50 per cent and 1.21 per cent while, NGX Asem, NGX Growth, and NGX Sovereign indices closed flat.
According to the NGX, 56 equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than 50 equities in the previous week.
Twenty-six equities depreciated in price, lower than 29 equities in the previous week, while 74 equities remained unchanged lower than 77 equities recorded in the previous week.
The NGX weekly market report showed that a total turnover of 8.205 billion shares worth N49.145bn in 28,622 deals was traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.302 billion shares valued at N17.813bon that exchanged hands last week in 20,212 deals.
The consumer goods industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 6.259 billion shares valued at N29.309bn traded in 5,225 deals; thus contributing 76.28 per cent and 59.64 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The financial services industry followed with 1.301 billion shares worth N9.125bn in 11,551 deals. The third place was the Conglomerates Industry, with a turnover of 247.477 million shares worth N334.894m in 1,348 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, FCMB Group Plc, and Transnational Corporation Of Nigeria Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 6.924 billion shares worth N27.951bn in 2,237 deals, contributing 84.39 per cent and 56.87 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
According to Cordros Capital, impressive corporate earnings by bellwether stocks supported market performance last week, as investors increased their bets on blue-chip companies in anticipation of continued expansion in profits.
On its forecast, it stated, “In the week ahead, we expect investors to continue to rotate their portfolios towards cyclical stocks that delivered decent earnings this week. Thus, we see scope for the bulls to maintain dominance, albeit the magnitude of the gains will be substantially lower, as profit takers are likely to cash out on the gains across bellwether stocks.
“Notwithstanding, we reiterate the need for positioning in only fundamentally sound stocks as the weak macro environment remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.”