In the trading week ending Friday, April 14, Nigeria’s equities market experienced a 2.06% decrease, after three consecutive days of negative closures. The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and its equities Market Capitalisation also dropped, recording 51,893.94 points and N28.267 trillion, respectively, compared to 52,994.13 points and N28.869 trillion in the previous weekend.
Trading opened for four days that week, as Monday, April 10, was a public holiday to celebrate Easter. However, all key sectoral indices closed in the red, except for NGX Consumer Goods Index, which increased by 0.05%.
According to analysts at Vetiva Equity Research, the market is expected to maintain its mixed trend, as investors look forward to Q1 earnings reports this month. Some investors are also positioning ahead of the dividend qualification dates for listed companies.
The NGX 30 Index, which tracks the top 30 companies in terms of market capitalisation and liquidity, experienced a 1.63% decrease. NGX Banking Index was down 1.40% WoW, NGX Industrial Index decreased by 0.40%, NGX Insurance Index was down by 1.50% WoW, while NGX Oil & Gas Index closed the week flat.
So far this month, the market has experienced a 4.29% decrease, while the market’s YtD positive return stood at 1.27% in the review trading week.
