Mixed corporate earnings drag NSE lead index 0.34% lower

Adesola Afolabi

The Nigerian equities market closed negative for the second consecutive week, amid mixed corporate earnings, with the ASI shedding 0.34% w/w to 36,646.46 points.

Losses prevailed across the Industrial Goods which closed the week ended 27th October 2017, 3.28 percent lower.

The Insurance index towed similar line with a week decline of 3.08 percent, the Oil & Gas fell 1.34 percent and Consumer Goods dropped 0.73 percent.

These losses subdued the 0.84% gain recorded in the Banking sector. The Banking index appreciated on the back of gains recorded by FIDELITYBK (+15.3% w/w), ACCESS (+3.79% w/w), UBA (+3.44% w/w) and FBNH (+3.16% w/w), as investors reacted to the impressive 9M-17 results recently released.

As a result, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderated to 2.88% and 35.68% respectively.

The summary of price changes for the week showed that 33 equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than 23 of the previous week. 32 equities depreciated in price, lower than 34 equities of the previous week, while 106 equities remained unchanged lower than 114 equities recorded in the preceding week.

Although the NSE All-Share Index depreciated by 0.34%, the Market Capitalization appreciated by 0.20 to close the week at N12.619 trillion.

A total turnover of 1.394 billion shares worth N16.403 billion in 19,195 deals were traded in the course of the week by investors on the floor of the Exchange in contrast to a total of 872.892 million shares valued at N14.016 billion that exchanged hands previous week in 19,047 deals.

The Financial Services Industry led the activity chart by volume with 1.116 billion shares valued at N10.153 billion traded in 9,942 deals; thus contributing 80.05% and 61.90% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Consumer Goods Industry followed with 95.005 million shares worth N3.251 billion in 4,443 deals.
The third place was occupied by Conglomerates Industry with a turnover of 90.194 million shares worth N645.159 million in 1,136 deals.

The week’s Top three traded equities in volume terms were United Bank for Africa Plc, Access Bank Plc and FBN Holdings Plc. They accounted for 515.058 million shares worth N4.458 billion in 3,088 deals, contributing 36.95% and 27.17% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.