T he Nigerian equities market closed on a positive note last week as bargain hunting in the share prices of telecommunication giant, MTN Nigeria Plc and energy company, TRANSPOWER Plc soared by 6.4 percent, and 8.00 percent respectively to boost the market performance for the week.
Market experts attributed the gains by MTN Nigeria to the 50 percent tariff hike approved by the industry regulator, Nigeria Communication Commission while positive earnings released accompanied by dividend payment is said to have been responsible for TRANSPOWER Plc stock price gain during the week.
Consequently, the NGX All-Share Index and Market Capitalization appreciated by 1.22 percent and 1.26 percent to close the week at 103,598.30 and N63.645 trillion respectively.
Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NGX Insurance, NGX Consumer Goods, NGX Oil and Gas and NGX Sovereign Bond which depreciated by 1.20 percent, 1.20 percent, 0.93 percent and 0.10 percent respectively while the NGX ASeM closed flat.
A total turnover of 3.132 billion shares worth N76.552 billion in 61,456 deals was traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 2.252 billion shares valued at N58.831 billion that exchanged hands penultimate week in 63,657 deals.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 2.336 billion shares valued at N33.014 billion traded in 27,100 deals; thus contributing 74.59 percent and 43.13 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Services industry followed with 284.988 million shares worth N807.646 million in 4,638 deals.
Third place was the Consumer Goods Industry, with a turnover of 139.010 million shares worth N5.704 billion in 6,469 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Wema Bank Plc, Secure Electronic Technology Plc and Access Holdings Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 1.437 billion shares worth N15.406 billion in 5,292 deals, contributing 45.89 percent and 20.13 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Forty four equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than 33 equities in the previous week. 44 equities depreciated in price lower than 57 in the previous week, while 64 equities remained unchanged, higher than 62 recorded in the previous week.
Meanwhile, a total of 9,250,000,000 Ordinary Shares of 50 Kobo each at N1.20 per Share of Lasaco Assurance Plc were on Thursday, January 23, 2025, listed on the Daily Official List of Nigerian Exchange Limited.
The additional shares listed on NGX arose from Lasaco’s Private Placement of 9,250,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N1.20 per share.
With the listing of the additional 9,250,000,000 ordinary shares, the total issued, and fully paid-up shares of Lasaco Assurance Plc has now increased from 1,833,585,855 to 11,083,585,855 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.