NSE Insurance index ranks next to banks in y/y performance

The insurance sector of Nigeria’s economy has shown signs of better investor appreciation as performance year to date has been significantly better than its performance in the same period 2016.
Trends of sectorial performances in the Nigerian capital market for the week ended Friday March 10th 2017 showed that the insurance sub sector of the finance sector continued to trail the banking sub sector on positive returns to investors on weekly, monthly and quarterly basis.

The positive performance of the insurance sector since the 2017 financial year commenced, manifested in the activities and gainers table of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last week as the sector accounted for 40 per cent representation in the top five gainers table.
NEM Insurance emerged the third highest gainer during the week with 9.64 per cent or N0.08 appreciation on its equity price to close the week at N0.91 per share, while Continental Reinsurance closed the top five gainers table with 4.95 per cent or N0.05 growth in its share price. , closing the week at N1.06 per share.

However, no company from the sector emerged among the top tend losers for the week, a development attributable to the low pricing of its equates on the Exchange.

Based on renewed investment drive in the insurance sector this year, investment in insurance stocks listed on the exchange have returned 0.51 per cent , for a period of one month investing (mtd) having recorded positive growth of 0.4 per cent for the week ended March 10, and a 0.03 per cent growth week to date (wtd).

The highest returns on investment according to the weekly report of the NSE, was the banking subsector which recorded 0.74 per cent returns on investment so far in 2017 (Y/Y), the sector returned 0.74 per cent for a quarter investment period, for a month’s investment period, the NSE banking index returned -0.35 per cent while it also returned 0.10 per cent to investors for a one month investment period (mtd).

Meanwhile, the NSE Insurance index opened the week ended March 10th on 123.50 and closed at 123.54. The NSE insurance index returned higher than the banking index on month to date basis, but closed the week on -2.18 per cent year to date earnings, second to the NSE banking index which closed the week at 0.74 Per cent year to date earnings