After one week of positive performance, the stock market began its depreciation last week following losses in bellwethers stocks such as Seplat Petroleum Development Plc. Dangote Cement Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. The market had chalked up 3.2 per cent the previous week after a long bearish period.
However, the positive performance could not be sustained last week as the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index shed 0.99 per cent to close at 27,525.81, while market capitalisation shed N133.5 billion to be at N13.391 trillion.
Similarly, all other indices finished lower with the exception of NSE Insurance Index, and NSE Industrial Goods Index which appreciated by 1.15 per cent, 0.04 per cent and 0.34 per cent while the NSE ASeM index closed flat.
The sectoral performance was bearish as four of the five posted declines led by the NSE Oil & Gas Index with 10.8 per cent. The NSE Banking Index went down by 3.5 per cent just as the NSE Consumer Goods Index fell by 0.6 per cent. The Industrial Goods Index lost 0.3 per cent. On the positive side, the NSE Insurance Index appreciated by 1.2 per cent.
A review of the performance of some other stock markets in Africa, showed that Nairobi Stock Exchange closed last week bearish as well, shedding 0.4 per cent. Mauritius’ SEMDEX Index lost, shedding went down by 0.2 per cent.
However, Egypt’s EGX 30 index gained the most, up 3.5 per cent followed by Ghana’s GSE Composite and Morocco’s Casablanca MASI indices followed, advancing 1.8 per cent and 1.0 per cent respectively.
Across the Asian and the Middle East market, performance trended downward as three of the five monitored lost. Qatar’s DSM 220 dropped 3.5 per cent while UAE’s ADX General Index went down 2.5 per cent. Also, Thailand’s SET index depreciated 0.5 per cent. On the positive side, Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul ASI advanced 5.3 per cent following positive sentiment stirred by its inclusion on the MSCI Emerging Market Index. In the vein, Turkey’s BIST 100 index inched 0.4 per cent higher.
According to analysts at Afrinvest (West Africa), optimism over trade talks buoys some other developed markets. The explained that China slightly de-escalated trade tensions last week as its proposed retaliation to the latest tariffs imposed by the United States was put on hold.
The expectation early in the week was that China would impose tariffs ranging from 5.0 per cent to 10.0 per cent on $75.0 billion […]
