In the trading week ended Friday October 25, the benchmark performance indicator of the Nigerian stock market decreased by 0.38percent.
The record decline came as investors failed to react positively to the release of companies third-quarter (Q3) 2019 as sell pressure persisted.
With most mid/large cap stocks shedding part of their market value in the review trading week, market watchers expect next trading session to come in better as investors take position in some fundamentally sound stocks.
The NSE Industrial Goods Index recorded the highest weekly decline of -1.51percent, followed by NSE Insurance Index (-1.47percent).
NSE Pension Index (-1.21percent), NSE Consumer Good Index (-0.60), NSE Banking Index (-0.40), NSE Oil & Gas Index (-0.30), while NSE 30 Index (-0.26).
While the bears are still winning the match over the bulls, leading to declining equity prices, investors who have long-term funds can take advantage of the recent decrease in the share prices of some companies that have strong investment case in the equity market.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) and market capitalisation which opened the review week at 26,448.62 point and N12.875 trillion respectively stood lower at 26,348.73 points and N12.826trillion as at Friday October 25, 2019.
The value of listed equities (market capitalisation) decreased by N49billion in one week. The market’s year-to-date (YtD) return stood at -16.17percent.
While FBN Quest analysts expect the market to maintain the negative trading pattern in the next session, FSDH research analysts believe the current bearish trend in the equity market is an opportunity for strategic investors to take positions in the market.
“In addition to the capital gain that investors enjoy in the equity market, investors could also benefit from dividends that companies pay and the bonus issue (additional shares that investors earn, for which they do not pay)”, the FSDH research analysts said.
Iheanyi Nwachukwu
