Viable investment options: Financial Stock update!!

The financial services industry dominated in volume terms at the end of last week’s transactions on the equity sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) with 1.784 billion shares valued at N20.385 billion traded in 16,823 deals.

It thus, contributed 76.6 per cent to the total equity turnover volume of the market.

Following the financial sector was the consumer goods industry, accounting for 171.111 million units worth N5.404 billion in 4,055 deals, while the oil and gas industry ranked third with a turnover of 124.065 million shares worth N296.727 million in 1,607 deals.

Specifically, trading in the top three equities- Zenith International Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc accounted for 664.391 million shares worth N10.659 billion in 6,429 deals, contributing 28.54 per cent to the total equity turnover.

Consequently, a total turnover of 2.328 billion shares worth N28.927 billion was recorded  in 25,530 deals by investors on the floor of the Exchange in contrast to a total of 2.444 billion shares valued at N36.665 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 26,712 deals.

Also traded during the week was a total of 4,165 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) valued at N78,276.06, executed in 15 deals, compared with a total of 1.889 million units valued at N10.512 million that was transacted last week in four deals.

A total of 5,152 units of Federal Government Bonds valued at N4.562 million were traded this week in 24 deals, compared with a total of 40,566 units valued at N44.313 million transacted last week in 29 deals.

The NSE’s All-Share Index and market capitalisation depreciated by 1.11per cent and 0.14 per cent to close the week at 41,472.10 and N14.982 trillion respectively.

Similarly, all other indices finished lower during the week with the exception of the NSE Consumer Goods, NSE Banking and NSE Pension that appreciated by 1.07 per cent, 3.31 per cent and 1.67 per cent respectively

Also, 33 equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than 25 of the previous week, while 49 equities depreciated in price, lower than 60 equities of the previous week and 89 equities remained unchanged higher than 86 equities recorded in the previous week.

An additional volume of 3,097,653,023 units of Lafarge Africa Plc resulting from the rights issue were added to its outstanding shares on Thursday, 22nd of March, 2018. By this action, the total outstanding shares of the company now stand at 8,673,428,240.

Also, the price of Total  Plc was adjusted on March, 19, 2018, for a dividend of N14 as declared by the board of directors. The last closing price was N246.10, hence the ex-dividend price N232.10.

Medview Airline Plc’s price was also adjusted on March 21, 2018, for a dividend of N0.03 as declared by the board of directors. The last closing price was N2.17, hence the ex-dividend price of N2.14.