Following the completion of two major acquisition deals at the Nigerian Stock Exchange, turnover at the stock market gained 971.7 per cent last week.
Turnover jumped to 11.91 billion shares valued at N18.34 billion in 19,508 deals, representing 972 per cent and 146.2 per cent increase in turnover volume and value. In the previous week, turnover stood at 1.11 billion shares valued at N7.45 billion in 15,562 deals.
The turnover last week was driven by major acquisition deals on Wema Bank Plc and Unity Kapital Assurance Plc. A total of 4.16 billion shares of Unity Kapital Assurance Plc were swapped in a cross deal at 77 kobo per share. This represented about 30 per cent equity stake in Unity Kapital Assurance. The transaction on Unity Kapital was a divestment of the major equity stake of Unity Bank Plc, according to a reliable source.
Also, a total of 6.67 billion shares of Wema Bank Plc were swapped in three deals at 90 kobo per share. The deals were block divestments. A source said the divestments were part of the share sales by Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON). The three deals represented 17.3 per cent equity stake in Wema Bank.
The acquisition deals expectedly placed Wema Bank and Unity Kapital atop the activities’ chart. The trio of Wema Bank Plc, Unity Kapital Assurance Plc and Zenith Bank International Plc accounted for 11.01 billion shares worth N11.27 billion in 2,856 deals, representing 92.4 per cent and 61.5 per cent of the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The financial services sector remained the most active sector with a turnover of 11.69 billion shares valued at N14.73 billion traded in 13,094 deals; representing 98.2 per cent and 80.35 per cent of the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The conglomerates sector followed with 71.89 million shares worth N175.60 million in 777 deals while the consumer goods sector placed third with a turnover of 69.72 million shares worth N1.18 billion in 3,019 deals.
Also traded during the week were a total of 294,047 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) valued at N3.209 million executed in 42 deals, compared with a total of 72,054 units valued at N637,635.25 traded in 26 deals two weeks ago.
In the bonds segment, a total of 12,470 units of Federal Government bonds valued at N14.348 million were traded in eight deals last week.
The stock market however came under intense sell pressure as investors readjust portfolios ahead of the monetary policy meeting of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
