''Stock Exchange lists 110m FGN bonds''

THE Nigerian Stock Ex­change (NSE) last week list­ed 110 million units of the Federal Government (FGN) bonds just as a total of 9,439 units of the sovereign bonds valued at N10.429 million were traded in seven deals.
A breakdown of the listed instrument shows 20 mil­lion units of the 15.54 per cent bonds due in Febru­ary 2020, 40 million units of the 12.50 per cent bonds due in January 2026
and 50 million units of the 12.40 per cent due in March 2036. There was a spike in the buy side of the FGN bonds dur­ing the week as a total of 9,439 units valuing N10.429 million were traded in seven deals, up from the previous week’s 4,170 units valued at N4.413 million transacted in just three deals.
On the equity side, a turn­over of 2.387 billion shares worth N26.381 billion were recorded in 28,072 deals. This was in contrast to the 2.158 billion shares valued at N20.394 billion done penultimate week in 24,369 deals.
The Financial Services Industry led the activ­ity chart with 1.951 billion shares valued at N16.832 billion and traded in 17,226 deals to contribute 81.75 per cent and 63.80 per cent to the turnover and value respectively. The Conglom­erates Industry followed with 223.156 million shares worth N477.064 million ex­changed in 1,461 deals. The third place was occupied by the Consumer Goods Industry with a turnover of 91.705 million shares worth N6.253 billion in 4,433 deals.
Trading in the shares of United Bank for Africa, Ze­nith Bank and GT Bank , which were the top three equities for the week, ac­counted for 887.282 mil­lion shares worth N12.894 billion transacted in 7,483 deals, to account for 37.17 per cent and 48.88 per cent of the turnover and value re­spectively.
The NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalization were up by 4.79 per cent to close the week at 30,649.66 and N10.527 trillion respec­tively.
Similarly, all other Indi­ces finished higher during the week, with the excep­tion of the NSE ASeM In­dex that closed flat.
Forty equities appreci­ated in price during the week, lower than the 44 equities of the previous week. Thirty-two equi­ties depreciated in price, higher than the 24 of the prior week, while 108 equi­ties remained unchanged, lower than 112 equities recorded in the preceding week.
Meanwhile, the Chair­man of Heirs Holdings, UBA Plc and founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), Tony Elumelu, has urged students to develop entrepreneurial mindset early in order to open up other options for gainful employment when they are ready to join the job market.