Equities trading on the floor of The Nigerian Stock Exchange ended today’s trade in the negative territory, as the All Share Index gave up 102Bpts of its trading point to round up at 31,313.36 from 31,636.66. Safe NSE-Industrial Goods that added points, other observed market indices in this report closed below their respective opening points. Week to Date, activities index is down by 191Bpts while the total lost point in March is now 129Bpts. See the index movement table for details.
Value loss by the market capitalization of the listed equities during today’s trading activities was N120.564 billion, same as 102Bpts below the opening value. Meanwhile, trading activities for the day produced 8 ADVANCERS and 30 LAGERS. NSEASI Year to Date loss is now 37Bpts while the Market Capitalization Year to Date loss stood at N43.481 billion same as 37Bpts above the year’s opening value.
As earnings season entered the second week of March, investors seem to be running out of patient as smart money exited the market in search of capital appreciation. More importantly is the fact that substantial portion of gained points in February (towards the election periods) are lost. The strong bearish candlestick that represented yesterday’s trading pattern may have increased the level of anxiety around the market arena. Nevertheless, we are of the opinion that holding on to strong fundamentally based equities for expected earnings boost is an intelligent investment decision.
As at the time we compiled this report, Brent Crude trades at $66.92/bbl having gain 0.25% to stand above the last close price.
At the interbank rate today, the Naira closed unchanged at N306.95 against the dollar. See below table for BDC rates by four major locations within the country. Meanwhile, the I&E FX Window started from N360.60 traded as high as N363.00 before rounding up at N360.44, having transacted a total of $510.65 million through the day. Please note that, margin between the close and open value is an equivalent of 4Bpts loss. We are of the opinion that the FX-Market will trade within same range tomorrow.
In the money market, the Overnight (O/N) rate closed at 10.33%, same as 1.25% below the previous closing position. Meanwhile, Open Buy-Back (OBB) rate ended at 9.67%, that is, 1.17% below the previous close. We are of the opinion that the money market will maintain this range on the next business day. Safe Trade.
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