Zenith Bank Plc accounted for more than one-quarter of the total value of equities traded on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on Monday, September 21, after investors exchanged 77.07 million shares of the lender worth N9.90 billion.
The N9.90 billion recorded in Zenith Bank shares represented approximately 26 percent of the N38.06 billion total equity turnover for the session, placing the lender firmly at the centre of market liquidity.
Zenith Bank was also the most actively traded equity by volume among the stocks reported, accounting for approximately 13.4 percent of the 574.19 million shares exchanged across the market.
The concentration was even more pronounced when Zenith Bank’s turnover was combined with that of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO).
GTCO recorded 25.86 million shares worth N3.41 billion, bringing the combined transaction value of the two banking groups to approximately N13.31 billion.
This means Zenith Bank and GTCO alone accounted for about 35 percent of the entire N38.06 billion equity turnover recorded during Monday’s trading session.
Other heavily traded stocks were dominated by financial services companies.
Mutual Benefits Assurance recorded 53.58 million shares valued at N205.59 million, while Sterling Financial Holdings Company traded 44.23 million shares worth N339.33 million.
AIICO Insurance completed the five most active stocks with 24.38 million shares valued at N91.92 million.
Combined, Zenith Bank, Mutual Benefits, Sterling Financial Holdings, GTCO and AIICO recorded approximately 225.13 million shares, representing about 39.2 percent of total market volume.
However, their transaction values differed substantially.
While Mutual Benefits, Sterling and AIICO generated significant share volumes at relatively lower monetary values, Zenith Bank and GTCO attracted considerably larger capital flows per share, making the two banking groups major contributors to the day’s turnover by value.
The concentration in Zenith Bank comes after an unusually high-value trading session on Friday, September 18, when total NGX equity turnover reached N96.89 billion.
Monday’s overall transaction value fell to N38.06 billion, a decline of about 60.7 percent from Friday, despite share volume increasing from 525.99 million shares to 574.19 million shares.
The number of deals also increased sharply to 68,655 from 44,240, representing growth of approximately 55.2 percent.
The divergence indicates that Monday recorded more transactions and higher share volume, but the average monetary size of shares changing hands was considerably lower than during Friday’s exceptional session.
Despite the decline in overall transaction value, the broader market remained positive.
The NGX All-Share Index gained 0.14 percent to 250,156.80 points, crossing the 250,000-point threshold, while equity market capitalisation increased by approximately N228 billion to N162.385 trillion.
Zenith Bank’s N9.90 billion turnover therefore stood out in a session characterised by a modest extension of the market rally, higher deal activity and continued concentration of liquidity in financial stocks.
