Jitters caused by the Israel-Hamas war have caused a slowdown across the global equities market, leaving many investors to seek solace in gold.
This saw gold price rise 0.8 per cent week-on-week (w/w), while the equities market, including that of Nigeria across the globe shed weight.
“Last week, investors were at risk-off to seek shelter in safe havens (Gold up 0.8 per cent w/w to $1,990.10/ounce) as concerns of further escalation in the Middle East conflict intensified”, said analysts at Afrinvest.
As such, the MSCI World Index declined 1.3 per cent w/w. In the US, the Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled that the policy rates could be held steady at the next policy meeting, with warnings of hawkish decisions if inflation remains molten.
In reaction to this guidance, the NASDAQ and S&P 500 indices declined 2.8 per cent and 1.9 per cent w/w, respectively.
Analysts however attributed the slide in index of the Nigeria Exchange (NGX) to profit taking by investors, as the All-Share Index (ASI) slowed down by 0.4 per cent w/w.
“The domestic equities market ended the week on a bearish note as the NGX-ASI declined 0.4 per cent w/w to 66,915.41 points”, said analysts at Afrinvest.
Consequently, market capitalisation shed N156.3 billion to N36.8 trillion, while Year-to-Date (YTD) return declined to 30.6 per cent (previously 31.1 per cent). Activity level was mixed as average traded volume rose 1.8 per cent w/w to 299.2 million units while average value exchanged fell 0.6 per cent w/w to N4.9 billion.
In spite of the lifting of foreign exchange (forex) ban on 43 items by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the naira depreciated across all segments last week.
The fall of the naira was also in spite of the US government’s relaxation of sanctions on Venezuelan oil, the average Brent crude oil futures recorded a 4.2 per cent w/w jump to $91.36/bbl.
