Nigeria’s equities market rebounded strongly in the week ended September 18, with the benchmark All-Share Index rising 2.78 per cent, while financial services stocks accounted for nearly four-fifths of total trading volume.
The NGX All-Share Index rose from 243,052.74 points at the end of the previous week to 249,804.56 points on Friday. Market capitalisation also increased by 2.90 per cent, from ₦157.59 trillion to ₦162.16 trillion, setting a new record.
Trading value rose sharply during the week, reaching ₦237.99 billion, compared with ₦130.15 billion recorded in the previous week. This represented an increase of about 82.8 per cent.
However, the number of shares traded moved in the opposite direction, falling to 3.249 billion shares from 3.647 billion shares in the preceding week. The number of deals, however, increased from 244,777 to 287,919.
The financial services industry led trading activity, with 2.581 billion shares worth ₦97.21 billion exchanged in 138,900 deals. The sector accounted for 79.43 per cent of total equity trading volume and 40.85 per cent of the total value traded during the week.
Fidelity Bank, Sterling Financial Holdings and Mutual Benefits Assurance were the three most-traded stocks by volume, jointly accounting for 1.229 billion shares, representing 37.83 per cent of total market volume.
The recovery was also reflected in broader market participation. 52 equities recorded gains during the week, while 32 declined and 63 remained unchanged. This was a significant improvement from the previous week, when nine equities gained, 58 unchanged and 80 declined.
Among individual stocks, UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust led the gainers with a 34.91 per cent increase, followed by Sovereign Trust Insurance at 30.95 per cent and Mutual Benefits Assurance at 22.03 per cent. Nigerian Exchange Group and First HoldCo also recorded gains of 21.55 per cent and 17.65 per cent, respectively.
On the other hand, Transcorp Power recorded the largest decline, falling 18.94 per cent, followed by John Holt and Ellah Lakes, which declined 18.89 per cent and 18.14 per cent respectively.
The week ended with the market at a record ₦162.16 trillion in capitalisation, as investors increased trading activity across the equities market, with financial services stocks remaining the dominant contributor to trading volume.