Toyin Samuel
Trading of equities on the floor of Nigerian Exchange (NGX) last week closed on a positive note, extending its bullish bias despite the limited trading days due to Christmas celebration break. Trading activities reflected cautious optimism as investors continued to realign portfolios ahead of the year-end, while selectively accumulating stocks with solid fundamentals and improving price momentum. Although the overall gain was modest, sentiment remained constructive, supported by strong performance among stocks Growth index, Industrial goods, and Banking
The All-Share Index and Market capitalization grew by 0.97% and 0.98 to settle at 153,539.83 points and N97.890 trillion respectively.
Year to date, the market has returned 49.17%.
Meanwhile, a total turnover of 2.876 billion shares worth N63.861 billion in 80,288 deals was traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 9.849 billion shares valued at N305.917 billion that exchanged hands last week in 126,691 deals.
Forty-four (44) equities appreciated in price during the week, lower than fifty-five (55) equities in the previous week. Thirty (30) equities depreciated in price, lower than thirty-six (36) equities in the previous week, while seventy-three (73) equities remained unchanged, higher than fifty-five (55) recorded in the previous week.
Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NGX Premium, NGX Insurance, NGX MERI Growth, and NGX Lotus II Indices which depreciated by 0.51%, 2.13%, 0.23% and 0.62% respectively while the NGX Oil and Gas and NGX Sovereign Bond indices closed flat.
TOP 10 GAINERS
ALEX led other gainers in the course of last week with 32.39% growth, closing at N16.35 from the previous close of N12.35.
AUSTINLAZ, International Breweries, MECURE and FIRSTHOLDCO grew their share prices by 32.23%, 20.83%, 18.55% and 17.91% respectively.
Other top 10 gainers include: FTN Cocoa 15.38%, International Energy Insurance 14.54%, Ikeja Hotel 11.63%, GUINNESS 9.98% and EUNISELL 9.94% respectively.
TOP 10 LOSERS
Legend International led other price decliners, shedding 11.71% of its share price to close at N4.90 from the previous close of N5.55.
Champion Breweries, Nem Insurance, MANSARD and ABC Trasport grew their share prices by 11.50%, 8.37%, 7.14% and 6.57% respectively.
Other price decliners include: ELLAHLAKE (6.45%), Prestige Assurance (6.17%), MTN Nigeria (5.21%), DAAR COMMUNICATION (4.26%) and Regency Insurance (3.96%) respectively.