Goddy Egene
The Nigerian equities market remained bearish last week as investors paid little attention to the announcement of improved results and declaration of dividends by some companies. The market was under the firm control of the bears for four out of the five days.
However, the decline recorded by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) was marginal, as it fell by 0.01 per cent to close at 31,139.35. Market capitalisation shed N1.3 billion to close at N11.6 trillion.
Similarly, three out of the five major sectors tracked declined. They were led by NSE Oil & Gas Index with 3.9 percent, trailed by NSE Consumer Goods Index, which shed 2.3 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index shed 1.09 per cent. On the positive side, the NSE Banking Index appreciated by 3.8 per cent, while NSE Industrial Goods Index garnered 2.4 per cent.
Apart from the Nigerian market that closed negatively, five other markets in Africa had bearish performance. The Egyptian market suffered the highest decline 1.4 per cent. It was followed by Mauritius’ SEMDEX, which fell by 0.7 per cent. Ghana’s GSE Composite went down by 0.6 per cent, just as Kenya’s NSE 20 closed 0.3 per cent lower. Only Morocco’s Casablanca MASI was the lone gainer, rising 1.8 per cent.
Performance across the developed market was mixed. In the United States (US) markets, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ rose 0.2 per cent and 1.0 per cent respectively. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.3 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 appreciated 0.8 per cent. Conversely, the United Kingdom FTSE All Share Index fell 0.2 per cent while the France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s XETRA DAX declined two per cent and 2.1 per cent in that order.
In Asia and the Middle East, performance was mixed as two of five markets closed in the green. The United Arab Emirates’ ADX General Index led the decliners, shedding 2.5 per cent followed by Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul ASI, which fell by 1.4 per cent. Turkey’s BIST 100 went down by 0.9 per cent. On the flip side, Qatar’s DSM 20 and Thailand’s SET indices rose 0.2 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively.
Market Turnover
Meanwhile, investors in the Nigerian market traded 1.198 billion shares worth N12.273 billion in 18,293 last week, compared with 1.113 billion shares valued at N13.465 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 15,036 deals. The Financial Services Industry led the activity […]