Stock market investors bought shares of the financial services industry worth about N18 billion in one week, putting the sector ahead of others in the week ended August 23, 2024.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 4.977 billion shares valued at N17.877 billion traded in 19,064 deals; thus contributing 88.22 percent and 54.09 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Oil and Gas Industry followed with 179.469 million shares worth N8.954 billion in 5,780deals.
The third place was the Services Industry, with a turnover of 123.505 million shares worth N525.417 million in 2,436 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Standard Insurance Plc, Jaiz Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Holdings Company Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 3.951 billion shares worth N7.947 billion in 1,839 deals, contributing 70.04 percent and 24.04 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
A total turnover of 5.641 billion shares worth N33.052 billion in 42,006 deals was traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 2.033 billion shares valued at N42.155 billion that exchanged hands last week in 45,157 deals.
In the Exchange Traded Fund segment, a total of 98,004 units valued at N62.225 million were traded in the review week in 207 deals compared with a total of 149,795 units valued at N7.995 million transacted in the preceding week in 139 deals.
In the bonds market, a total of 101,335 units valued at N88.825 million were traded this week in 36 deals compared with a total of 36,534 units valued at N36.434 million transacted last week in 29 deals.
The NGX All-Share Index and Market Capitalization depreciated by 1.162 percent and 0.004 percent to close the week at 95,973.45 and N55.129 trillion respectively. Similarly, all other indices finished lower with the exception of NGX Main Board, NGX CG, NGX Banking, NGX Insurance, NGX AFR Bank Value, NGX AFR Div Yield, NGX MERI Growth, NGX MERI Value and NGX Oil & Gas which appreciated 0.98 percent, 0.17 percent, 0.37 percent, 1.90 percent, 0.47 percent, 6.31 percent, 3.94 percent, 0.38 percent and 3.54 percent respectively, while the NGX ASeM index closed flat.
Forty-three (43) equities appreciated in price during the week higher than thirty-nine (39) equities in the previous week. Thirty-four (34) equities depreciated in price lower than forty-six (46) in the previous week, while seventy-four (74) equities remained unchanged, higher than sixty-six (66) recorded in the previous week.
Global equities
Global stocks were broadly higher this week as investors reacted positively to dovish comments from the US Federal Reserve chief during his Jackson Hole speech, which hinted at potential interest rate cuts in the near term.
At the time of writing, US equities (DJIA: +0.1%; S&P 500: +0.3%) were on track to close higher as investors digested jobless claims data and the latest comments from the Fed that hinted at a potential interest rate cut in September.
Meanwhile, mixed sentiments dominated European equities (STOXX Europe: +1.0%; FTSE 100: -0.1%) as optimism about potential interest rate cuts from major central banks in September were tempered by uncertainty about the outlook for economic growth in the region.
In Asia, Japanese stocks (Nikkei 225: +0.8%) rose on the back of gains in technology stocks and positive signals on Wall Street, while Chinese stocks (SSE: -0.9%) declined due to profit-taking activities in consumer and electric vehicles stocks amid escalating trade tensions between China and the European Union.
Lastly, the Emerging Markets (MSCI EM: +0.7%) and Frontier Markets (MSCI FM: +1.2%) indices rose, supported by positive sentiments in India (+0.8%) and Vietnam (+2.6%), respectively.
