Experts finger global equities market uncertainty to prevailing sell off

Cross section of market experts have pointed that the prevailing global markets uncertainty to be responsible for the sustained market decline recorded for consecutive two weeks in the Nigerian equities market.

The equities market closed the last trading session of the week ended Friday February 8th 2018 negative, with decline in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All -Share Index by -0.46% to close at 43,127.92pts.

The market data released by the NSE for the week showed that week to date (wtd), the NSE-ASI dropped -3.39 per cent.

Investment one research said it “may not be unconnected with the increased uncertainty in global equities markets as well as the -7% week to date slide in the price of Brent oil to c.USD64/barrel.”

· Activity levels also declined with total volume and value down -75 per cent and -40 per cent to 552million units of shares worth N4.49billion.

SKYEBANK with 4.90 per cent was the most actively traded stocks with 150million units of shares worth N156m.

· With the exception of the industrial sector (+0.15%), all other sectors finished in the red. Banking (-2.07%), Consumer Goods (-0.23%) and Oil & Gas (-0.01%) all ended negative.

The week’s’ performance was driven by declines in Banking names as ZENITHBANK decline d by -96pts), followed by GTB, which also dropped by -85pts, FBNH lost -57pts, while ACCESS bank share price declined by -46pts, the losses offset the gains recorded by highly priced Dangote Cement , which appreciated by 84pts.

Furthermore, market breadth index was negative as 23 stocks gained compared with 32 stocks that declined. DIAMONDBNK (+6.52%) was the best performer, while AIICO with -8.75 per cent topped the losers’ chart.

· In the near term, analysts, expect market to trade sideways just as investors continue to take positions in this earnings season. “Despite the sell-off we saw in the market recently, we believe this may present entry opportunities into our quality names for investors with a medium to longer term horizon” Investment one noted .

At the Investors’ & Exporters’ FX window, the NGN gained +1.13% to N496.95 against the GBP, +0.04% to N360.27 against the USD and +0.12% to N440.46 against the EUR.

The NGN was unchanged at N363/USD, N446/EUR at the parallel market, while it shed -0.80% to N510 against the GBP.

Stories by Bonny Amadi