Airtel, others lift stock market slightly this week

Airtel Africa Plc led gainers with 9.97 percent to slightly dragged the Nigerian Stock Exchange out of the red zone this week.

The market capitalisation of listed equities expanded by 0.01 percent to close the week at N12.952 trillion. While the NSE All-Share Index gained 0.01 percent or 2.27 basis points from 24,826.75 bps achieved in the previous week to 24,829.02 bps this week.

The bourse year to date return moderated to -7.50 percent. However, the quarterly return remained at an impressive 16.57 percent even though the exchange returns a decline of -1.74 percent in June.

Activity level was low during the week as investors traded 738.375 million shares valued at N8.563 billion in 17,247 transactions. This was below the 1.050 billion shares worth N10.125 billion that were exchanged in 19.576 deals in the previous week.

In terms of volume traded, the financial services sector led the activity table with 456.851 million shares worth N3.773 billion exchanged in 8,062 deals. The sector contributed 61.92 percent and 44.06 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.

This was followed by the consumer goods sector with 66.668 million shares valued at N2.015 billion but traded in 3,486 transactions.

The oil and gas industry came third with a total turnover of 63.255 million shares worth N380.146 million that were transacted in 963 deals.

In terms of the most traded stocks for the week, First Bank of Nigeria Holdings Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Zenith Bank Plc led with a combined volume of 211.351 million shares valued at N3.042 billion that were exchanged in 3,623 deals. The three stocks contributed 28.59 percent and 35.52 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.