In the just concluded week, the local bourse closed in green territory as speculators mopped up the banking and insurance shares amid expected improvement in dividend yields. Hence, the overall market performance measure, NSE ASI, closed higher at 31,426.63 points, having gained 1.36% w-o-w. The NSE Banking Index and NSE Insurance Index closed in the green as they rose by 7.15% and 1.95% to 406.64 points and 124.75 points respectively.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!However, NSE Consumer Goods Index, NSE Oil/Gas Index and NSE Industrial Index moderated by 0.41%, 1.32% and 2.02% to 720.88 points, 278.95 points and 1,318.97 points respectively. Elsewhere, market activty picked as total deals, transaction volumes and Naira votes rose by 11.32%, 42.27% and 28.01% to18,332 deals, 1.81 billion shares and N17.23 billion despite the closeness of the February elections, which as previously anticipated, should have scared investors away.
In the new week, we expect profit taking activity to outweigh bargain hunting activity, especially on banking stocks, as speculators are expected to book their profits, following the bullish run in the just concluded week.
More so, as the timeline for the Presidential election gets closer and the fixed income securities become more attractive, investors are likely to stay on the sidelines. Hence, the local bourse should close in red territory.