It was another bearish week for investors in the Nigerian equities market as the market remained southwards despite renewed interest in notable banking counters. Some traders believe last week’s performance was probably in response to potential delisting of Nigeria from MSCI index.
At the close of trades, the NSE All-Share Index and market capitalisation depreciated by 2.40 per cent to close the week at 24,719.27 and N8.503 trillion respectively.
Similarly, all other Indices finished lower during the week, with the exception of the NSE Premium Index, NSE ASeM Index, NSE Banking Index, NSE Insurance Index and the NSE Pension Index that rose by 0.45 per cent, 0.38 per cent, 0.31 per cent, 1.86 per cent and 0.55 per cent respectively.
The previous week, the market had closed lower shedding 0.70 per cent driven predominately by sell offs in the industrial sector, which closed down 1.50 per cent.
Reacting to the performance last week, analysts stated that the market’s performance and the level of activity may not be unconnected to the lack of positive news flow.
“Going forward, we expect the market to remain low in the immediate. However, we are optimistic in the medium to long term on expectation of better fiscal management, the administration’s capital expenditure spending and social intervention programmes. As such, we advise investors with a medium to long term horizon to take advantage of the depressed price levels and building positions in quality names,” analysts at Investment One Limited, said.