Specifically, the market capitalization, which represents the total value of shares traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), as at February 26, 2016, closed at N8.336 trillion as against the N8.225 trillion at which it opened for the month.
Reviewing the NSE classified sectors for the month showed that the Oil & Gas index topped the gainers’ chart with a significant growth of 19.08 per cent increase, while the Industrial Goods, NSE Premium, NSE-30, NSE-ASEM indices added 4.28 per cent, 2.18 per cent, 1.15 per cent, and 0.24 per cent respectively.
On the other hand, the Banking Index went down by 4.17 per cent, Insurance decline by 3.88 per cent, Consumer Goods depreciated by 2.26 per cent, and Pension Index shed 2.45 per cent.
Market analysts at the beginning of the month predicted growth which will be driven by investors’ reaction to corporate earnings releases but the number of companies that turn in their result were low and performances were below investors expectation on account of the challenging business environment.
For the month under review, the absence of fundamental fiscal and monetary policy directions, coupled with volatility in macroeconomic indices, weakened investors’ sentiment towards equities market and reduced the gains expected for the month.
However, analysts said that the recent news on the increase in international crude oil prices amid sustained decrease in crude oil production in the United States as well as ongoing efforts by OPEC producers and Russia to place a cap on their respective crude oil exports is good news for the Nigerian economy.
They also noted that market performance in March will be driven by investors’ reaction to corporate earnings releases.