Nigeria’s equities market saw a down of 0.12 percent in early trading on Tuesday ahead of today’s decisions from the ongoing Monetary Policy Committee meetings following the market’s negative start to the week. Pointing to some economic analysts’ expectation that the bearish sentiment will persist ahead of MPC decisions. As of 11.20 am, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalization decreased by 0.12 percent or N65billion from the preceding day’s 101,995.21 points and N55.810trillion to 101,877.51 points and N55.745trillion.
Perhaps, an offshoot of negative sentiments prevailing in the local bourse for weeks, with market breadth which measures the ratio of gainers to losers staying below the 1.00x mark for the past five weeks, settling at 0.25x last week. It is also anticipated that with the upcoming monetary policy committee meeting on the 26th and 27th of February, a potential minimum 100bps hike bodes negatively for risky investments. Consequently, it is foreseen that the attractiveness of fixed-income instruments could dampen the inflow of funds into the equities market this week.
