Equities transaction on the Nigerian Exchange Limited last week closed on a negative trend as the bears extended their dominance for the fourth consecutive week.
Analysis of the week’s activities shows that losses in BUACEMEN percent (-10.0), TRANSCORP (-7.8 percent) and GTCO (-4.6 percent) drove the NGX All-Share Index and Market Capitalization lower by 0.94 percent and 0.80 percent to close the week at 104,962.96 and N65.820 trillion respectively.
Consequently, investors lost N532 billion during the week as transactions were dominated by bears in four out of the five trading sessions, resulting in the month-to-date and year-to-date returns moderating to -2.7 percent and +2.0 percent respectively.
Breakdown of trading activities during the week under review shows that a total of 2.902 billion shares worth N48.064 billion was exchanged in 57,044 deals by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 3.281 billion shares valued at N63.517 billion that exchanged hands in 60,782 deals the previous week.
The Financial Services Industry led the activity chart in volume, with 2.375 billion shares valued at N21.335 billion traded in 27,053 deals; thus contributing 81.85 percent and 44.39 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Services industry followed with 177.345 million shares worth N3.194 billion in 3,829 deals. Third place was the Consumer Goods Industry, with a turnover of 104.381 million shares worth N3.305 billion in 5,587 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, Jaiz Bank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 1.497 billion shares worth N5.065 billion in 3,662 deals, contributing 51.59 percent and 10.54 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
New listing
Three products were admitted into different segments of the NGX Daily Official List during the week under review, one each from the equities, future contracts and bond segments.
“Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc: Listing of 16,666,666,667 Ordinary Shares of 50 Kobo each at N4.50 per Share Offered through Private Placement Trading License Holders are hereby notified,” the notice said.
During the week under review, additional 16,666,666,667 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each per share of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc (the Company) were listed on the Daily Official List of Nigerian Exchange Limited.
The additional shares listed on NGX arose from the Company’s Private Placement of 16,666,666,667 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N4.50 per share. With the listing of the additional shares, the total issued and fully paid-up shares of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc have now increased from 28,790,418,124 to 45,457,084,791 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.
Similarly, Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, admitted its NGX30U5 and NGXPENSIONU5 Futures Contracts into NGX Daily Official List.
According to the listing document the NGX30U5 which was listed at N4, 226.75 while NGXPENSIONU5 was listed at N5, 079.75 both have an expiration date of September 19, 2025.
Dangote Cement Plc on its part listed N38, 198,800,000.00, of its 10-Year at 23.50 percent fixed rate bond. The Senior Unsecured Bonds which are due in 2034 comes under the Dangote Cement Plc N300,000,000,000 Multi Instrument Issuance Programme.
“Trading License Holders are hereby notified that Dangote Cement Plc N38,198,800,000 10 Year 23.50 percent Fixed Rate Senior Unsecured Bonds Due 2034 under the N300,000,000,000 Dangote Cement Plc Bond Multi-Instrument Issuance Programme were listed on Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) today, Thursday, 20 March 2025,” the NGX said.
Global equities market
However, positive sentiments returned to the global equities markets last week as investors evaluated policy rate decisions and economic outlooks from the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of England (BoE), the Bank of Japan (BoJ), and the People’s Bank of China (PBoC).
Accordingly, US equities (DJIA: +1.1 percent, S&P 500: +0.4 percent) were on track to close the week higher, following the Federal Reserve’s decision to maintain interest rates as expected while signalling two potential rate cuts later in the year. Investors also reacted positively to US retail sales data, which increased by 0.2% m/m in February 2025, recovering from a downwardly revised 1.2% decline in January.
Similarly, European equities (STOXX Europe: +1.2 percent, FTSE 100: +0.8 percent) were poised for a positive close, driven by optimism surrounding Germany’s fiscal reforms following parliament’s approval of a significant spending plan aimed at revitalising economic growth and increasing military spending. UK stocks also saw gains, fueled by energy and mining sectors, despite market concerns about the Bank of England’s cautious stance on future rate cuts and the OECD’s downgraded economic growth forecast.
Meanwhile, in Asia, Japanese equities (Nikkei 225: +1.7 percent) advanced, mirroring Wall Street’s gains, with further support from reactions to Japan’s trade balance swinging to a surplus in February. Conversely, Chinese equities (SSE: -1.6 percent) closed lower due to a lack of specific details on the timing and scale of Beijing’s plans to boost consumer spending and profit-taking in Chinese technology and artificial intelligence stocks.
Finally, Emerging and Frontier Markets (MSCI EM: +1.9 percent, MSCI FM: +0.9 percent) indices posted gains, reflecting strong performances in India (+4.3 percent) and Morocco (+5.3 percent), respectively.