Last week, the global stock market took a beating, as the rise in the tension between Russia and Ukraine drove a broad-based sell-offs across major indices. Russia’s RTS index plunged, losing more than 30.0 per cent week-on-week ( w/w) while oil prices surged past $100.00/bbl – the first time since 2014.
In the US, the Nasdaq and S&P fell 0.5 per cent and 1.4 per cent w/w respectively, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 and China’s Shanghai Comp indices declined 2.4 per cent and 1.1 per cent w/w respectively.
In Nigeria, bullish momentum resurfaced as the market All Share Index (ASI) up 0.4 per cent w/w, halting its 2-week bearish streak, the domestic bourse rebounded with a gain of 0.4 per cent w/w to push the NGX-ASI up to 47,328.42 index points, while market capitalisation appreciated by N101.3 billion to N25.5 trillion.
Consequently, the Year-to-Date (YTD) return improved to 10.8 per cent from 10.4 per cent the previous week.
Meanwhile, average volume traded rose 2.1 per cent w/w to 333.6m while average value traded fell 32.0 per cent w/w to N3.9 billion.
At the foreign exchange market, the Investors’ & Exporters’ (I&E) Window, the NAFEX rate opened the week at N416.75/$1.00 and closed at N416.00/$1.00 on Friday, appreciating by N0.75 w/w. Activity level in I&E window increased by 1.9 per cent to $507.0 million from $497.8 million recorded in the previous week. At the FMDQ Securities Exchange (SE) FX Futures Contract Market, the total value of open contracts declined 10.3 per cent w/w to $4.4 billion.
The liquidity level dipped at the start of week compared to the prior week’s close and ended the week lower at N96.1 billion despite inflows from coupon payments (N66.8 billion), as well as from the Open Market Operation (OMO) (N230.0 billion) and T-bills (N115.3 billion) maturities. Accordingly, interbank rates moved in line with system liquidity dynamics with OPR and OVN rates closing the week higher at 14.8 per cent and 15.8 per cent respectively.
