The equities market reverted to the positive movement last week after halting the upward trajectory penultimate week with investors gaining N596 billion at the end of the week’s trading.
This was despite the profit taking activities in heavy weights in the telecommunications and the consumer goods sectors.
Specifically, renewed interest in Airtel Africa Plc, which recorded a 20.2 per cent returns, offset losses recorded in Guinness Nigeria Plc (-11.2%), Nigerian Breweries Plc (-10%) and MTN Nigeria Communication Plc (-48%).
Consequently, the All Share Index (ASI) advanced by 2.1 per cent to 54,085.30 points.
Similarly, the market capitalisation fell by N596 billion or 2.1 per cent to close at N29.158 trillion from N28.562 trillion.
Performance across sectors was negative, following losses in the insurance (-6.3%), consumer goods (-3.9%), oil and gas (-0.9%), banking (-0.8%), and the industrial goods (-0.7%) sectors.
Analysts at Cordros Capital highlighted that negative sentiments would dominate market performance in the short term given the recent decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to hike the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 150bps.
They, however, opined that a short-term market correction would present opportunities for investors to make re-entry in stocks with sound fundamentals and attractive dividend yields.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) has emphasized the need for diversification of portfolios by investors to ensure enhanced return on investment.
The Chief Executive Officer of NGX, Temi Popoola, stated this, as the stock market continued its uptrend rally.
Popoola said that in spite of the current appreciation in prices of equities in the country, opportunities still exist for investors in other assets classes.
He said as a multi-asset Exchange, NGX has various products for every investor regardless of their investment goals, risk appetite or return expectations.
According to him, “there are opportunities in every segment of the market. It is important for investors to do the analysis, understand where those opportunities are as there are opportunities, not only in the equities side but across the various asset classes.”
He stressed that diversification of the portfolio would go a long way to reduce risks, understanding the need for investors to re-balance their portfolio.
