Trading in the Nigerian stock market on Friday ended negative, as the NGX ASI dropped further by 0.28% to close at 97,506.87 points to bearishly end the week.
Generally, the performance of the equities market did not surprise analysts as the trading activity today reflected a general negative sentiment that persisted throughout the week.
According to data from the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), the local bourse’s supervisory group, the most significant decline of the day’s trading session is sequel to a huge sell-off in SEPLAT, which declined by 6.02% as it accounted for 51% of the traded volume of the market.
However, despite the overall downturn in the market, the banking sector performed well, with the Banking Index closing the week up by 0.67%, driven by sector’s blue chips like FBNH (+2.94%), UBA (+0.62%), and Zenith Bank (+1.14%).
Analysts at Bancorp Securities Limited noted that the sector’s upbeat may not be unconnected to investors’ expectations of improved interest margins based on last Tuesday’s jacking up of the benchmark lending rate (MPR) by 25bps by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at the end of its meeting in Abuja.
Meanwhile, the consumer goods sector posted a modest gain of 0.01%. However, on the flip side, the insurance sector index lost (1.83%) led by declines in Sunu Assurance (-4.88%) and AIICO (-1.64%).
Conversely, the Oil and Gas Index lost 2.56%, largely due to the massive sell-off in SEPLAT (-6.02%) and declines in Oando (-0.61%), this is as a result of regulatory issues in sector and the volatility in the global oil market led to a negative sentiment of the sector.
Due to the prevailing sentiment in the equities market, the Bancorp Securities experts implored investors to continue trading in stocks with good fundamentals.
