Nigerian Stock Market Depreciates by 3.5% Last Week

• Nigerian Stock Market Depreciates by 3.5% Last Week

The Nigerian Stock Exchange extended decline last week as lockdown and economic uncertainty weigh on market sentiment.

The NSE All-Share Index depreciated by 3.51 percent or 767.16 basis points from 21,861.78 to 21,094.62 basis points.

Similarly, the market capitalisation of listed equities declined to N10.994 trillion to take the year-to-date decline to 21.41 percent.

Activity level was mixed as 1.532 billion shares valued at 11.267 billion were exchanged in 18,928 transactions against the 1.452 billion shares valued at N14.918 billion that were traded in 21,828 deals.

In terms of volume traded, the financial sector lead with 1.105 billion shares valued at N7.100 billion exchanged in 12,225 deals. The industrial goods sector followed with 218.471 million shares worth N1.236 billion in 1,610 transactions.

The Consumer Goods industry came third with a turnover of 134.599 million shares worth N1.855 billion in 2,332 deals.

The top three most traded stocks last week were Sterling Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and Meyer Plc. The three accounted for combined 752.359 million shares valued at N3.247 billion in 4,039 deals.

The uncertainty surrounding the global economy amid coronavirus continues to dictate the pace of local economic growth. However, the slight surged in oil prices last week after President Trump tweeted that Russia and Saudi Arabia would cut oil production by the most on record to reduce global oil glut and artificially prop up oil boosted oil outlook on Thursday and Friday.

This new development is expected to bolster Nigeria’s economic outlook and strengthens the nation’s falling foreign reserves.