EQUITY MARKET
The Nigerian equity market this week went on a losing streak as investors continued to restructure their portfolio to safe-haven over the possible damaging effect of Coronavirus on the company’s performance. The trend which began with a loss of 1.27% on Monday was a cap with a significant 2.2% loss on Friday following the confirmation of the first case of Coronavirus in Nigeria.
Consequently, the NSE-ASI and NSE-Market Capitalization value declined by 4.28% w/w to close for this week at 26,216.46 absolute points and ₦113.66 trillion respectively as against 27,216.46 absolute points and ₦14.27 trillion last Friday. This in nominal term translates to a week-on-week loss of ₦610.70 billion in Market Capitalization value.
Only the Industrial Goods (+1.08%) closed positive for third successive week-on-week basis, while Banking led the losers’ pack with 11.79% decline w/w, followed by Insurance (-8.22%), Consumer Goods (-3.84%), and Oil & Gas (-2.14%) LAW UNION emerged top gainers this week; appreciating by 23.29% w/w, while REDSTAREX shed 26.97 % w/w to emerge the top loser.
Overall, a total turnover of 1.55 billion shares worth ₦24.26 billion in 21,646 deals was traded this week by investors on the floor of the Nigerian exchange in contrast to a total 1.50 billion shares valued at ₦17.91 billion that exchanged hands last week in 18,515 deals. A total of six (6) equities appreciated in price during the week, lower than twenty-four (24) equities in the previous week. Fifty- eight (58) equities depreciated in price, higher than twenty-eight (28) equities in the previous week, while ninety-nine (99) equities remained unchanged, lower than one hundred and eleven (111) equities recorded in the preceding week.
Market Outlook: Week ending March 06, 2020
We expect market jitters to remain in the next trading week as more investors seek a safe haven for their asset, over the expected negative impact of Covid-19 entrance in Nigeria.
FX, EXTERNAL RESERVE & CRUDE OIL MARKET
The Naira this week strengthened against the USD at the Inter-bank while it weakened in the I&E windows. The Naira closed at ₦306.95/USD as against ₦307.00/USD last Friday, and (the Naira) declined by 0.27% at the I&E window to close at ₦365.25/USD as against ₦364.26/USD last week Friday.
On the other hand, the balance of the foreign reserve this week fell by $310 million from last week’s position of $36.64 billion to $36.33 billion (27-Feb-2020).
Source: FMDQ, CBN, Oilprice.com, GTI Research
GTI Research
