Nigerian Stock Exchange Continues Bearish Trend

• Nigerian Stock Exchange Continues Bearish Trend

Unclear economic path and weak market sentiment continue to weigh on the Nigerian Stock Exchange despite assurance from the Federal Government.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange lost N291 billion in four days to set the tone for the rest of the year.

While the market capitalisation of listed equities declined from N13.206 trillion it opened on Monday to N12.915 trillion on Thursday. Suggesting a broad bearish trend across key sectors.

Breaking down the trend, investors lost N156 billion on Monday, the very first day of the second half of the year, while market capitalisation dipped to N13.050trillion.

On Tuesday, the bearish trend continued with the market declining by N93 billion to N12.967 trillion, and N12.948 trillion on Wednesday.

The market lost another N33 billion on Thursday to close at N12.915 trillion.

A total of 23 stocks closed in the red on Thursday to overshadow the 13 that gained.

Investment sentiment, that measures market breadth, weakened further to 0.6x. Another indication of weak investors’ confidence.

Despite the listing of MTN Nigeria and renewed interest in the Nigerian economy following the general elections, the Nigerian Stock Exchange market continues to struggle as investors refused to jump on stocks without clear economic direction.

Experts have said a clear economic path will help curb losses and boost sentiment in the second half of the year, still global uncertainty amid projected weak foreign exchange reserves is likely to hurt productivity and weigh on growth.

Global oil prices plunged this week from $65 a barrel to $62 as the tensions between Iran-US and China-US deepens. This was after OPEC agreed to extend production cuts until March 2020. Indicating that the expected drop in global oil supplies is not enough to prop up prices as investors expect a further decline in energy investment this year.