Investors had reasons to smile home in the week that just went by. For one thing, it was a bright one for investment on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange as the major indices closed in the positive.
The NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalisation both went up by 0.39%. While the former closed at 29,966.87, the latter did at N13.206 trillion.
The cheering development suggests that the weekly bullish momentum the market witnessed in the past couple of weeks was still sustained. It could then be said that there is a rise in investors’ confidence that the market is steadily returning to a sound financial footing.
Altogether, 1.771 billion shares valued at N28.036 billion were traded. These transactions were done in as many as 18,660 deals. Relatively, 7.476 billion shares estimated at N91.107 billion at 17,192 deals were transacted the week before.
[Also Read: Airtel Africa may consider dual listing on London and Nigeria Stock Exchanges]
Even though the volume traded two weeks ago was well above that of last week, the winning factor here was that the 18,660 deals of last week outweighed that of the week before, which closed at 17,192. Put differently, 18,660 deals chased 1.771 billion shares last week while only 17,192 chased N91.107 billion two weeks ago despite the huge volume recorded by the latter.
What you should know: The stock market uses deals to measure the demand for stocks. They represent the number of requests placed by investors on companies’ shares.
The Activity Chart was led by the financial services industry. Here, 1.336 billion shares worth N17.894 billion exchanged hands in 8,783 deals. Interestingly, bank stocks constituted 75.44% of the turnover volume and 63.32% of the total value of the entire market.
[READ ALSO: Airtel Eyes a £3.6 billion IPO valuation on the LSE and NSE]
The Consumer Goods segment came second with 115.835 million shares in transactions worth N5.282 billion in 2,969 deals. Coming third last week, the Industrial Goods segment traded 90.705 million shares, put at N1.707 billion in 1,991 deals.
Zenith Bank, GTB Plc, and Wema Bank Plc dominated transactions in the banking segment, collectively accounting for 840.903 million shares worth 15.266 billion in 2,938 deals.
Details of Index Performance: Apart from the All Share Index, all other indices improved save for the NSE Premium, NSE Insurance, NSE MERI Value, NSE AFR Bank Value, NSE AFR Div Yield and NSE Industrial Goods. However, the NSE ASem Index was largely stagnant.
Major Development: That leading wireless provider Airtel Africa will list its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in just three days time is good news for investors. That the company’s shares will be available to the general public that day (4th July 2019) is another. The reason is that the company’s shares are currently available to institutional investors alone, who have the financial muscle to buy the humongous minimum amount of shares the company is offering.
[READ ALSO: Why Airtel’s IPO is not for you]
The high point of the book building process last week was the disclosure of the offer price of the Airtel’s stock which was put at N363. A total of 39,227,968 of the company’s shares are on offer in Nigeria at the pre-listing stage.
The company’s shares were listed Friday morning on the London Stock Exchange at 80 pence per unit.
