Nigerian bourse opens the first trading week for 2019 with 1.28% depreciation

The Nigerian bourse began the 2019 operations with the market All-Share-Index depreciating by 1.28 per cent while Market Capitalization appreciated by 0.78 per cent to close the week at 30,638.90 and N11.426 trillion respectively.
All other indices finished lower with the exception of the NSE Oil and Gas Index that rose by 2.91%.
Twenty-two (22) equities appreciated in price during the week, lower than fifty-two (52) in the previous week. Forty-five (45) equities depreciated in price, higher than eighteen (18) of the previous week, while ninety-seven (97) equities remained unchanged higher than ninety-four (94) equities recorded in the preceding week.
The market opened for four trading days last week as the Federal Government of Nigeria declared Tuesday 1st January 2019 a Public Holiday to mark the New Year celebrations.
Meanwhile, a total turnover of 1.647 billion shares worth N8.413 billion in 14,773 deals were traded in the week by investors on the floor of the Exchange in contrast to a total of 3.129 billion shares valued at N14.348 billion that exchanged hands last week in 10,394 deals.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.154 billion shares valued at N5.742 billion traded in 9,174 deals; thus contributing 70.08 per cent and 68.25 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Healthcare Industry followed with 271.277 million shares worth N82.647 million in 219 deals. The third place was Services Industry with a turnover of 91.734 million shares worth N 208.562 million in 232 deals.
Trading in the top-three equities namely, Diamond Bank Plc, Union Diagnostic & Clinical Services Plc and NEM Insurance Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 816.016 million shares worth N1.305 billion in 1,615 deals, contributing 49.54 per cent and 15.51 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Also traded during the week were a total of 395 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) valued at N816,344.70 executed in 13 deals compared with a total of 25,500 units valued at N1.782 million that was transacted last week in 15 deals.
A total of 7,209 units of Federal Government Bonds valued at N6.958 million were traded this week in 8 deals compared with a total of 686 units valued at N689,162.04 transacted last week in three deals