Nigeria stocks close in green despite ravaging Coronavirus Pandemic

Nigeria’s stock market closed in the green zone on Tuesday March 24 as investors in their remote trading saw opportunities in low priced value stocks, chief among them is that of Stanbic IBTC Holdings (+9.43percent).

Bargain hunters still see opportunities in low priced but value stocks amid growing concern about the economy.

Though the record increase of the NSE ASI by 0.19percent helped reduce the year’s negative return to -19percent, the stock market still remains in the bearish region. Many stocks currently trade at their 52-week low.

At the close of remote trading on the Nigerian Bourse, the value of listed stocks increased to
N11.329trillion while the NSE ASI closed higher at 21,741.16points. In 4,561 deals investors exchanged 330,101,923 units valued at
N3.568billion.

Market watchers observed the ASI was lifted by gains in the Oil & Gas sector (+0.25percent) and Industrial goods sector (+0.02percent) as well as some Tier 1 banks.

This month alone, the Nigerian stock market has decreased by 17.07percent as investors continue to weigh the risks of holding naira assets as declining oil price and confirmed cases of Coronavirus Pandemic rises in the country.

“With no significant improvement in some fundamental indicators (such as Crude Oil prices and the spread of the Covid-19) that can uplift investors’ confidence, we anticipate a continued pressured market though the possibility of bargain hunting still exist due to recent declines”, according to Lagos based research analysts at Vetiva.

Meanwhile, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) after its meeting on March 23 and 24, 2020 resolved to; retain the MPR at 13.50 percent; retain the CRR at 27.5 percent; retain the Liquidity Ratio at 30 percent; and the Asymmetric window at +200 basis point and -500 basis points, around the MPR.