By Dipo Olowookere
Last week, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed bearish after recording losses in four of the five trading sessions.
The stock market posted a week-on-week loss of 0.51 percent as foreign portfolio investors continue to take profit as a result of uncertainty in the political scene in the country.
The decline last came despite the 50.55 percent rise in turnover.
At the close of business last Friday, the Nigerian equity market has gone down by 7.78 percent this year.
This week, the market will open for three days as there would be public holidays on Tuesday and Wednesday to mark Eid-el-Kabir by Muslims in the country.
But analysts are forecasting that the market will likely close flat at the close of the week as sustained selloffs are expected.
“In the short to medium term, selloffs are likely to persist in the absence of a near-term positive trigger and amidst brewing political concerns.
“However, macroeconomic fundamentals remain stable and supportive of recovery in the long term,” analysts at Cordros Research stated.
For those at Cowry Asset, “This week, we expect the local bourse to close flat in red territory as sell-offs by foreign portfolio investors and the attractive fixed income investment amid increasing yields continue to weigh on the market prices.
“Thus, we opine that investors should hunt for shares with high dividend yield as the prices go lower.”
Analysts at Business Post believe that the market will trade mixed this week as investors, especially domestic, take advantage of the low prices of stocks to add to their portfolios.
We expect traders to still watch how the market goes and hope that prices of stocks continue to fall below the present levels before re-entering the market. We expect investors to buy stocks in the banking and consumer goods sectors.
