The financial service sector of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) saw significant activity driven by three bank stocks: Fidelity Bank Plc, Access Holdings Plc, and FBN Holdings Plc.

This dominance in the financial sector contributed 87.5% to the total equities turnover, with 3.15 billion shares valued at N27.5 billion traded in 14,987 deals.

The top three equities alone accounted for 2.2 billion shares worth N18.7 billion in 5,083 deals, representing 60.2% of the total equity turnover.

Following the banking sector, the conglomerate industry recorded a turnover of 99.4 million shares worth N219.5 million in 901 deals, while the consumer goods industry witnessed a turnover of 87.434 million shares worth N1.6 billion in 3,768 deals.

Overall, investors on the Exchange floor traded a total of 3.6 billion shares worth N36.5 billion in 27,801 deals, compared to 2.9 billion units valued at N22.8 billion traded in 23,765 deals the previous week.

However, the equities market faced pressure from profit-taking activities, preventing the consolidation of gains from the previous week.

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Sell pressures on BUA Cement resulted in a 0.5% decline in the all-share index and market capitalization, closing the week at 52,214.62 and N28.431 trillion, respectively.

Operators attributed the selling pressure to global uncertainty, a weak macroeconomic environment, and an uptick in the fixed-income market.

Factors such as China’s economic weakness, geopolitical tensions, high-interest rates, inflation, supply constraints due to the Russia-Ukraine war, and unstable oil prices pose threats to the global economy.

Analysts expect mixed sentiments to continue due to profit-taking activities and dividend payments, but investors are advised to target fundamentally sound companies and defensive stocks to protect their portfolios.

The weak macro environment remains a significant challenge for corporate earnings, and market performance is expected to remain mixed as investors assess corporate earnings for Q1, 2023 and navigate the impact of increased fixed-income yields.