Chinwendu Obienyi
Risks remains on the horizon for stock market investors in the coming weeks given the rising cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Nigeria.
This was the view of market analysts in their weekly assessment of Nigeria’s stock market recently. This is coming after Nigerian equities market recorded its first weekly gain with bargain hunting across MTNN, WAPCO and banking stocks driving the All Share Index (ASI) up 1.37 per cent to close at 21,384.03 points.
Thus, the Month-to-date (MTD) return turned positive to +1.34 per cent, year-to-date (YTD) loss moderated to -20.3 per cent, while market capitalisation settled at N11.144 trillion.
But analysts at Cordros Capital noted that despite closing positive this week, risks in the market remain on the horizon, given the rising cases of COVID-19 in parts of the country.
“More so, our base case is for the Federal Government to extend the presently instituted lockdown in Lagos, Abuja, and Ogun, by another one week. Thus, we advise investors to trade cautiously, taking positions in fundamentally justified stocks”, They said.
For their part, analysts at Afrinvest said, “We are not overly optimistic about an elongated bullish run as the economy still reels from the disruptions caused by COVID-19 pandemic”.
Meanwhile, a total turnover of 2.440 billion shares worth N19.932 billion in 18,918 deals were traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to about 1.534 billion shares valued at N11.267 billion that changed hands the previous week in 18,928 deals. Trading in the Top Three Equities namely, Omoluabi Mortgage Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and FBN Holdings Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 1.702 billion shares worth N8.033 billion in 4,443 deals, contributing 69.76 and 40.30 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. Transactions are set to resume today after the Good Friday and Easter Monday public holidays to mark the end of the Lenten season and Easter celebrations.