Despite recording gains in three out five trading sessions, Nigerian equity market closed the week with a decline of 1.52 per cent Week-on-Week (w/w) as the All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed 21,861.78 points, consequently, leaving the Month-to-Date (MtD) and Year-to-Date (YtD) returns settling at -15.3 per cent and -18.6 per cent, respectively.
Market Capitalisation value also declined by 1.52 per cent to close for this week at N11.39 trillion as against N11.57 trillion recorded at the close of the previous week, translating to a week-on-week loss of N174.82 billion.
Analyses by sectors indicated that two of the five sectors closed positive on a week-on-week basis, led by Insurance (+3.25 per cent) and Banking (+2.06 per cent), while Consumer Goods (-8.05 per cent), Oil & Gas (- 2.21 per cent), and Industrial Goods (-0.52 per cent) sectors closed negatively.
For the week under review, Wapic Insurance emerged top gainers this week; appreciating by 23.81 per cent, while Nigerian Breweries shed 15 per cent to emerge top loser. Overall, a total turnover of 1.45 billion shares worth N14.92 billion in 21,828 deals were traded this week by investors on the floor of the Nigerian exchange in contrast to a total 2.80 billion shares valued at N32.56 billion that exchanged hands last week in 31,715 deals.
A total of 34 equities appreciated in price during the week, lower than 35 in the previous week. 30 equities depreciated in price, higher than 27 equities in the previous week, while 99 equities remained unchanged, lower than 101 equities recorded in the preceding week.
Amidst the rising concern in number of the COVID-19 cases in Nigeria that could cause a total lockdown if the number rise unexpectedly in coming week, markets analyst expect the market sentiment to remain moderately weak. However, they expect long term investors to begin taking advantage of the valued stocks.
“In our view, the trend witnessed this week is likely to persist, as weakening market sentiment in the face of the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic and the weakness across global markets are expected to pressure market returns. Nonetheless, we advise investors to take positions in fundamentally justified stocks,” Cordros Capital analyst said.
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