Equities market dips by 0.13% in week ended March 4

In the trading week ended Friday, March 4, 2022, Nigeria’s stock market closed in the red zone amid profit-taking activities in banking and consumer goods stocks on the Bourse. The record negative in review trading week made equities market positive return to decrease to 10.66percent year-to-date (YtD).

The stock market’s benchmark performance indicator – Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 0.13percent from a week-open high of 47,328.42 points to 47,268.61 points. The value of Nigeria’s listed stocks decreased by N32billion to N25.475trillion as against N25.507trillion recorded at the beginning of the week. From the beginning of this month-to-date (MtD), the stock market of Africa’s largest economy has decreased 0.27 percent.

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Except NGX Oil & Gas Index (+10.61percent), other key sectoral indices closed the review week in red. For instance, NGX Banking Index decreased most in the review week by 2.71percent, followed by NGX Consumer Goods Index (-1.71percent); NGX Industrial Index (-0.67percent); and NGX Insurance Index which decreased by 0.17percent.

Lagos-based United Capital research analysts had in their investment views for the review week expected “to see investors continue to book profits on positions that have appreciated significantly in the past weeks”; though their counterpart at Meristem had expected that investors positioning ahead of earnings release and dividend should further drive prices upwards.