Kelechukwu Mgboji 
Sell-off in heavyweight industrial and banking sector stocks of DANG – CEM (-10.0%), BUACEMENT (-3.4%), MTNN (-0.37% ), despite strong interest in oil & gas stocks during the week ended Friday October 4, erased gains in SEPLAT (+21%), GTCO (+3.59%) and UBA (+6.21%) over the week, resulting to a weekly decline of N539.09 billion in market capitalisation to N56.04 trillion.
However, at the close of trading on Friday, the market recouped 47bps of previous losses to close at 97,520.54 points. Investors’ interest in SEPLAT (+10%), GTCO (+0.82%), and FBNH (+1.21%) outweighed losses in ZENITHBANK (-0.53%), OANDO (-1.95%) and DANGSUGAR (-5.85%).
As a result, the market capitalisation recorded N262.10 billion daily gain on Friday to close at to N56.04 trillion. However, the All-Share Index fell by 1.0 per cent w/w to 97,520.54 points, with the MTD and YTD returns settling at -1.1 per cent and +30.4 per cent, respectively.
Activity levels were mixed, as trading volume dropped by 13.6 per cent w/w, while total trading value surged by 188.9 per cent w/w.
Analysis of market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 10.91 per cent.
A total of 320.70 million shares valued at N6.02 billion were exchanged in 8,763 deals. UBA (+1.30%) led the volume and value chart with 36.74 million units traded in deals worth N991.46 million.
SEPLAT (+10.00%) topped 32 others on the gainer’s table, while ETERNA (-10.00%) led 20 others on the loser’s table. From a sectoral viewpoint, the Oil & Gas (+7.3%), Insurance (+3.8%) and Consumer Goods (+0.3%) indices ended in positive territory, while the Industrial Goods (-6.8%) and Banking (-0.7%) indices declined.
Sectoral indices closed mixed with the NGX Oil and Gas Index (+7.29%w/w) leading the gainers log, followed by the NGX Insurance Index (+3.81%w/w), the NGX Pension Index (+0.61%w/w) and the NGX Consumer Goods Index (+0.34% w/w).
In contrast, the NGX Industrial Index (-6.84%w/w), the NGX 30 Index (-0.90%w/ w) and NGX Banking Index (-0.74%w/w) closed in red.
