Equities market close week with marginal gain of 0.08%

Equities trading on The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) received renewed vigour as it welcome the shares of the MTN Nigeria into its Premium Board, thus reversing negative sentiments.

At the end of the week, the NSE All Share Index closed at 28,871.93 basis points, up 0.08 per cent. Hence, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses moderated slightly to 1.0 per cent and 8.1 per cent, respectively.

It took only two trading sessions for MTNN to solely reverse Nigeria’s equities market fortune in the week. MTNN was listed on the Nigeria’s premium board on Thursday and immediately flexed its influence on the market. Being the second largest capitalized company after Dangote Cement, the stock returned 21per cent after two sessions, thus, effectively wiping off losses from the prior sessions.

16 equities appreciated in price during the week, lower than 18 in the previous week. 42 equities depreciated in price, lower than 49 equities of the previous week. 109 equities remained unchanged, higher than 101 equities recorded in the preceding week.

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On sectorial performance, all sector indices closed in the red, with the Banking (-4.31%) index leading the pack, followed closely by the Consumer Goods (-4.13%), Industrial Goods (-3.88%), Insurance (-3.35%), and Oil & Gas (-2.32%) indices.

Looking into the new week, analysts at Cowry Asset, expect the local equities market to close marginally in green territory as the euphoria of the listing of the telecoms giant is likely to be sustained.

“More so, we expect investors to take advantage of the general low share prices in the market, especially in the banking sector, in order to maximize their reture,” they advise.