Trading activities on the floor of The Nigerian Stock Exchange rounded up in the negative territory as the lead performance pointer-NSEASI gave up 312Bpts of its trading points and closed at 22,078.58 from 22,789.64. Safe NSE-Insurance index that gained, other observed market indices in this report closed below their respective opening points. Thus, Week to Date, lead activities index is 288Bpts below opening while the total lost points in the month of March increased to 1,578Bpts. See the index movement table for details.
Today’s negative performance could be seen as traders’ reactions to the move by the government to close down schools and gathering above 50 persons. Although this is a move channelled towards the fight against CONVI-19, it also signals a challenged economy to the investing public. Another negative fundamental news is the reduction of the 2020 budgets by N1.5 trillion, since the crude oil price had dropped heavily from the budget planned price. As we looked forward to the end of Coronavirus spread/damaging effect on the world economy; we maintained that traders should take advantage of low priced equities, as induced by the current bears’ pressure on the market. Please understand that only long term investment plan is recommended at the moment.
Value loss by the Market Capitalization of the listed equities during today’s trading activities was N370.547 billion, same as 312Bpts below the opening value. Meanwhile, trading activities for the day produced 13 ADVANCERS and 22 LAGERS. NSEASI Year to Date loss is now 1,775Bpts while the Market Capitalization Year to Date loss stood at N1.452 trillion same as 1,121Bpts below the year’s opening value.
Leading on the advancers’ log is African Prudential with 9.91% gain, as it rounded up the day at N3.55 from N3.23. JaizBank followed with 9.76% gain that closed its price at N0.45 from N0.41. Cornerstone Insurance, SterlingBank and Livestock Feeds completed the top 5 price percentage gainers’ with 9.43%, 9.09% and 9.09% respectively.
UCAP and Zenith Bank led the decliners’ log with 10.00% loss each as they both closed at N2.34 and N12.15 from N2.60 and N13.50 respectively. Others on the top 5 list are Arbico (9.81%), Fidson Healthcare (9.80%), and Prestige Assurance (9.09%).
As at the time this report was gathered, Brent Crude sells at 28.47$/bbl, this is 359Bpts above the previous close price.
The I&E FX Window opened at N368.50 traded as high as N376.05 before rounding up at N370.35, having transacted a total of $505.73 million through the day. Please note that, margin between the close and open value is 63Bpts up. We are of the opinion that the FX-Market will trade within same range tomorrow. See below table for Lagos BDC Fx-Rates.
In the money market, the Overnight (O/N) rate closed at 5.90%, same as 5.30% below the previous closing position. Meanwhile, Open Buy-Back (OBB) rate ended at 5.20% that is 5.20% 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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