Financial stocks lead Nigerian equities in 2017, account for 31.62% of market cap

Nigerian financial services sector led Nigerian equities in 2017, accounting for 31.62 percent of total market capitalization as at December 29.

An analysis of market performance in the year indicates that total market capitalisation stood at N13.62 trillion compared to the N9.25 trillion level as at the last day of trading in 2016. This signifies a growth of 47.29 percent year-on-year.

A sectoral appraisal of market capitalization for the review period revealed that the financial services sector emerged the most capitalized sector with a market cap of N4.31 trillion representing 31.62 percent of total market capitalization.

The industrial goods sector followed closely with a market capitalisation of N4.24 trillion or 31.16 percent of total market capitalization.

The consumer goods sector stands third with a market capitalization of N3.86 trillion representing 28.36 percent of total market capitalization. In the fourth and fifth position are the oil and gas and agriculture sectors with a market capitalisation of N669.98 billion and N137.17 billion respectively.

The services, natural resources, ICT, healthcare, construction/real estate and conglomerates all contributed less than one percent to the total market capitalization in the period under review.

The financial services sector performance was driven largely by banks stocks, while insurance stocks remained flat in the year.