As the first quarter of 2021 closes, the month of March has been disastrous for stocks having posted losses during the month every year since 2018 making it joint highest with February and the worst months for stocks in the last five years.
Up until last week when it eked out a gain, Stocks had skidded on 7 weeks losing spree sending nearly all indexes in the red.
The Nigerian stock market closed the first quarter of 2021 in red as the All-Share Index fell to a loss of 3.04 per cent during the quarter.
Year-To-Date stocks are also down by 3.04 per cent despite a slew of impressive results and robust dividend payments, especially following a financial year marred by the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Nigerian stocks suffered major losses in a tumultuous month due to several factors some of which include rising yields in government securities, reallocation of portfolios by investors, profit-taking, and the deteriorating situation in the economy.
The higher the interest rate on government securities the lower the demand for stocks and vice versa. Interest rates on bonds, treasury bills, and other risk-free securities rose during the quarter as the central bank grappled with widening negative real interest rates.
