Analysts say marginal weekly loss of N12bn signals stocks’ recovery

AS THE NI GERIAN EQUI TIES MARKET ended on a marginal loss of N12 billion to close weekly trading on Friday, many analyst said the development signals possible recovery for the market after a long season of downtrend.

The market ended the week on the red, depreciating marginally by 0.09 per cent to see the All Share Index (ASI) close at 27,657.04 bps while market capitalization shed N12 billion to close at N13.472 trillion as against N13.484 it closed the previous week.

Being the last full week of September, trading activities on the NSE reacted to the Monetary Policy Committee’s decision at its September’s meeting which led to retention of key monin

etary instruments such as the monetary policy rate (MPR) at 13.5 per cent.

According to capital market pundits, other factors

reacted to by investors in the course of the week include August inflation data and profit-taking that followed the gain recorded

the previous week on the back of announcement of fiscal plans by the federal government.

The week also witnessed bargain hunting as discerning investors took advantage of low valuation to key into interim dividend stocks and other undervalued equities that have strong potentials to rebound with the general market.

The All Share Index was retrenched only by the banking and industrial sector leaving all other sectoral indices on a positive stance and alternative securities market flat.

The NSEASI commenced the trading week on a negative note with a loss of 0.15 per cent. The bourse extended its stance till mid-week with a loss of 1.10 per cent and 0.25 per cent on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively before a strong and mild bullish recovery on the fourth and fifth trading session with 1.09 per cent and 0.35 per cent respectively.

The gains recorded on Thursday and Friday were however not enough to bring the index to a positive close.

Even though the market maintains waves between the north and south poles, analysts forecast that some signs of improvement are evident from the improved market performance during the week’s trading sessions.

Analysts however posit that with a marginal weekly loss of N12 billion or 0.09 per cent, market’s downtrend is likely to reverse soon with strength seemingly returning after a long downturn ahead of quarter-end and Q3 earnings reporting season.