By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed last week on a negative note, going down by 2.85 percent amid sell pressure.
This occurred despite largely positive earnings across major lenders that released their 2017 earnings so far; GTBank, Zenith Bank and Stanbic IBTC.
The sector went down by 8.35 percent with Diamond Bank losing 15 percent, UBA 14 percent, Zenith Bank 11 percent, Access Bank 10 percent, FCMB 7 percent and GTBank 6 percent.
According to analysts at Vetiva Research, this was mainly due to investors taking profit and selling to the strength of the market following the earnings releases.
“Going into the new week, we expect sell pressure to remain visible in the banking space, given the volumes on the offer cart at last week’s close.
“That said, we expect the selling to taper off as the week proceeds as investors take advantage of more attractive prices and noting that fundamentals of the Nigerian banking sector remain appealing,” they said.
The recommendation by Vetiva Research is presented in the picture below.
Adedapo Adesanya