Nigerian equity market appreciates 1.87% this week

The Nigerian equity market inched higher 1.87 per cent this trading week, which ended on Thursday, driven by gains by the financial sector.

The All-Share Index and Market Capitalization both appreciated by 1.87 per cent to close the week at 23,021.01 and N11.997 trillion respectively.

Ardova made the most leap of 20.94 per cent to emerge top of the 28 gainers, while Nigerian Breweries made the highest drop of 13.04 per cent to top 19 other decliners.

Investors traded a total of 1.012 billion shares worth N9.892 billion in 17,023 deals this week, compared to a total of 1.195 billion shares valued at N13.979 billion that exchanged hands last week in 20,591 deals.

The Financial Services sector was the most active in volume term, trading 809.957 million

shares valued at N5.666 billion traded in 9,533 deals; thus contributing 80.06 per cent and 57.28 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

This was influenced by FBN Holdings, UBA and Access Bank, which were the most active equities with regards to volume, accounting for 414.588 million shares worth N2.290 billion in 3,189 deals, contributing 40.98 per cent and 23.15 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

All other indices finished higher except for NSE Meri Growth, NSE Consumer Goods and NSE Industrial Goods, which depreciated by 0.88 per cent, 1.42 per cent and 0.47 per cent respectively, while the NSE ASeM index closed flat.