Equities Market kicks off week with 40 percent volume growth

The volume of shares traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) appreciated by 40.4 percent to settle at 202.4 million units, as the market opened the week with further price losses yesterday.

The shares traded in 2,558 deals were valued at N1.616 billion compared to 144.2 million units valued at N2.143 billion and exchanged in 2,459 deals recorded in previous session.

The All Share Index (ASI) dropped 0.06 percent to close at 25,318.41 from last Friday’s closing figure of 25,333.39 points.

Investors worth also recorded further depreciation of N5.2 billion as market capitalization closed at N8.715 trillion compared to N54 billion lost on Friday when market capitalisation closed at N8.720 trillion.

Mobil led the day’s eight appreciating stocks with a 5 percent uptick to close at N219.41 per share. Eterna Oil followed with a 4.56 percent growth to close at N2.98 per share, while Fidson Healthcare Pharmaceuticals recorded a gain of 4.29 percent to close at N1.46 per share.

Fidelity Bank recorded a 3.80 percent growth to close at 82 kobo per share and Ecobank Transnational added 3.16 percent to close at N9.80 per share.

On the flip side, Forte Oil and UACN led the day’s 22 retreating stocks, with a 5 percent depreciation to close at N59.66 and N16.15 per share respectively, this was followed by UAC- Property that shed 4.86 percent to close at N2.35 per share while Africa Prudential Registrars lost 4.79 percent to close at N2.78 per share. AxaMansard Insurance closed the day at N1.80 per share following a depreciation of 4.76 percent.

Wema Bank emerged the most traded stock for the day with 75.4 million shares valued at N39.2 million, Access Bank followed with 22.9 million units of shares worth N131.6 million while Zenith Bank came third with the sale of 14.8 million shares worth N199.7 million.

FCMB traded 14.3 million shares worth N15.1 million and FBN Holdings sold approximately 13.5 million shares at N41.3 million.