According to information from the local bourse, the equity market lost more than N601 billion during the course of five days of trading on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange. Trading activity were overwhelmed by the previous week’s negative run last week, which pushed key performance indicators lower.
Stockbrokers suggest that due to greater rates on naira assets, investors who have been riding the highs and lows of the equity market are shifting capital into the fixed income sector.
The Nigerian Exchange’s trading patterns were attacked by the funds’ withdrawal as the All-Share index (NGX-ASI) fell 2.1% week over week to 51,893.94 points.
After the early boom observed in 2023, the Benchmark index began trading at 2008 higher after crossing 55,000 points. In an unexpected flip, the fixed income market has now become a shelter for investors looking to shield their money from inflationary pressures.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the consumer price index deteriorated in March from 21.91% to 22.04%. The market capitalization of the equity sector decreased by 601.3 billion dollars to 28.2 trillion according to data from the Nigerian Exchange.
The stock market’s year-to-date return decreased to 1.3% at the end of Friday’s trading session, a sharp decrease from the 3.4% recorded the week before. With the exception of the Consumer Products index, which increased by 0.05% week over week, performance this week was mostly on a negative trend throughout the indexes.
According to market statistics, the Banking index fell by 1.40%, falling at a similar rate to that of the Insurance sector (-1.40%), making the financial industry companies this week’s decliners due to sell-pressure. The Industrial Products sector also had a 0.40% decline. The overall number of transactions decreased last week by 2.91% week over week to 15,685, according to stockbrokers, while market participants reported greater traded volumes.
Trade volume spiked by 167.99% to 2.82 billion units which were valued at N8.94 billion, representing a decrease by 11.05% week on week. Meanwhile, the top gaining securities for the week were TRANSCORP (+23%), INTBREW (+11%), and NAHCO (+8%), while the week’s losers were NEIMETH (-10%), MAYBAKER (-10%), and AIRTELAFRI (-10%).
