Equity investors gain N475bn in one week 

Investors in Nigeria’s equity market gained N475bn buoyed by Computer Warehouse Group, FTN Cocoa Processors, and United Capital plc.

This week, bulls dominated three of the five trading sessions, pulling the domestic bourse to positive territory with a 0.3 per cent appreciation in the all-share index to 100,057.49 points.

Also, the market capitalisation rose by 0.3 per cent week on week to N56.6tn.

The Year-to-date return nudged higher to 33.8 per cent this week.

In the week under review,  30 stocks advanced, 10 declined, and 82 closed flat.

Top gainers for the week were Computer Warehouse Group, FTN Cocoa Processors, and United Capital plc while Jaizbank, Daar Communications, and Champion Breweries led the losers.

Additionally,  investors on the exchange floor traded 2.651 billion shares worth N49.976bn in 41,610 deals.

Gauging activity level, the average volume and value traded dipped 51.8 per cent and 43.6 per cent to 530.1 million units and N10.0bn respectively.

Meanwhile, the top traded stocks by volume were First Bank of Nigeria Holdings FBNH with 669.8m, Guaranty Trust Holding with 126.9m units, and Access Holdings Plc with 119.5m units.

In terms of value, FBNH, GTCO  and ACCESSCORP led with N14.3bn, N5.6bn, and N2.3bn respectively.

Across sectors, performance varied as three indices lost while the other three gained.

The  Consumer Goods indices dipped by 0.6 per cent respectively to lead laggards, owing to price depreciation in Airtel Africa, MTN, Dangote sugar,  and National Salt company.

On the flip side, the Oil & Gas and Insurance indices rose 5.7 per cent and 3.3 per cent respectively, buoyed by gains in Seplat Energy, Oando plc, Mutual Benefits Assurance, and  Lasaco Assurance.

Likewise, buy interest in FBNH and Fidelity Bank buoyed the Banking index by 1.1 per cent.

In the coming week, analysts anticipate the bullish performance to be sustained barring any negative shock.