The Nigerian stock market closed trading last week in the south, as investors lost a whooping N172 billion worth of investment.
Market capitalisation of the bourse depreciated by N172 billion to close the week at N9.561 trillion as a result of heavy sell offs. Likewise, the All Share index recorded a weekly loss of 1.77 per cent or 500.18 points to close at 27,835.22 points
Sector performance also weakened with all indices trending southwards. The Industrial Goods index declined the most, down by 5.3 per cent week-on-week on account of price depreciation in Wapco and Ashaka Cement.
The Banking index followed suit, down by 2.8 per cent on losses in Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank. Also, the Consumer Goods index depreciated by 2.7 per cent due to losses in PZ Industries and Guinness after PZ Industries declared a N1.5 billion loss in its recently published first quarter, 2016 result joining Guinness who submitted a similar result few weeks ago.
Similarly, the Oil & Gas and Insurance indices fell 1.16 per cent and 0.08 per cent respectively as losses in Forte Oil, Total, and Continental Reinsurance which dragged both indices.
Market breadth turned negative, with 21 gainers versus 34 losers compared to 34 gainers against 31 losers the preceding week. Total volume traded fell by 27.35 per cent to 934.90 million shares, worth N6.36 billion and traded in 12,352 deals, compared to the 1.29 billion shares, valued at N9.30 billion that exchanged hands in 15,258 deals previous week.
Banking stocks dominated market activity by volume and value, as Access Bank, Diamond Bank and FCMB traded 150.1 million, 109.2 million and 105.3 million shares collectively accounted for 39.01 per cent of total volume traded during the week, while Guaranty Trust Bank, Zenith Bank and Access Bank transacted shares valued at N1.3 billion, N900.7 million and N817.3 million accounted for 46.84 per cent of total value of transactions for the week.
The best performing stocks for the week were Seven Up, FCMB and Champion Breweries gaining 13.67 per cent, 8.41 per cent and 8.37 per cent, while Lafarge Africa, Wema Bank and Caverton shed 13.87 per cent, 12.50 per cent and 11.84 per cent respectively were the worst performers
