Increased interests in banking stocks drive NSEASI higher by 0.24%

Nigeria’s equities market advanced by 0.24percent in the trading week ended March 6, driven by investors’ interest in banking stocks.

Before now, the market had gone on a losing streak as investors restructured their portfolio to safe-haven over the possible damaging effect of Coronavirus on company’s performance. Following the outbreak of Coronavirus in Nigeria, some analysts had anticipated a sustained downtrend in the review trading week, despite bargain hunting opportunities.

Amid this fear, the review week witnessed influx of full year (FY) 2019 scorecards of most notable counters in the banking sector. The banking sector is the highest paying sector in terms of dividend.

Ahead of the banks’ dividend qualification dates, their stocks continued to enjoy investors’ patronage on the Nigerian Bourse which led to the value of equities listed on the NSE to increase by about N36billion.

NSE Banking Index which provides an investable benchmark that captures the performance of the banking sector increased most by 3.78percent in the review trading week. NSE Banking Index comprises the most capitalised and liquid companies in banking.

Other sectoral indexes and their performances this week are: NSE 30 Index (+0.12percent), NSE Consumer Goods Index (-5.87percent), NSE Industrial Good Index (-4.27percent), NSE Insurance Index (+1.40percent), NSE Oil & Gas (+0.80percent), and NSE Pension (-0.91percent).

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index increased by 0.24percent from week open low of 26,216.46 points to 26,279.61 points; while the value of listed equities increased by N36billion to N13.694trillion, from a low of N13.658 trillion at the beginning of the week.

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By Teliat Sule • March 8, 2020

Iheanyi Nwachukwu

Iheanyi Nwachukwu, is a creative content writer with almost two decades journalism experience writing on banking, finance, capital markets, and tax. The multiple awards winning journalist is Assistant Editor, BusinessDay. Iheanyi holds BSc Degree in Economics from Imo State University; Master of Science (MSc) Degree in Management from University of Lagos. Iheanyi has attended several work-related trainings including (i) Advanced Writing and Reporting Skills (Pan African University, Lagos); (ii) News Agency Journalism (Indian Institute of Mass Communication {IIMC}, New Delhi, India); and (iii) Capital Markets Development and Regulations (International Law Institute {ILI} of Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA). Other trainings Iheanyi attended include: Economic/Political Risk Analysis (By Thomson Reuters Foundation); International Financial Journalism (IFJ) (By PMA Media Training, UK); Effective Business Writing Skills (By Phillips Consulting); Reporting on Corporate Governance (By International Finance Corporation (IFC) & Thomson Reuters Foundation UK); etc. In addition, he has participated in high-level economy & markets events in Dubai, South Africa, Morocco, and other African countries like Zambia, Ghana and Gambia.