Investors’ flight for safety over uncertainties shrouding next year’s general elections has continued to take its toll on the equity sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), as the All-Share Index (ASI) and market capitalisation dropped further by 1.2 per cent to close the week at 31,678.70 points and and N11.565 trillion.

Similarly, all other indices finished lower with the exception of the NSE Main Board, NSE Insurance, NSE Consumer Goods, NSE Oil and Gas and NSE Pension that gained by 0.43 per cent, 1.38 per cent, 1.08 per cent, 0.25 per cent and 0.56 per cent respectively.

Last week, the market opened for four trading days as the Federal Government declared Tuesday a public holiday to mark the Eid-el-Maulud celebration.

However, the volume of shares traded increased significantly, as turnover of 1.282 billion shares worth N23.142 billion were recorded in 11,467 deals on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast with a total of 1.285 billion shares valued at N11.539 billion that exchanged hands last week in 13,245 deals.

Specifically, the financial services industry (measured by volume), led the activity chart with 1.058 billion shares valued at N18.74 billion, traded in 6,558 deals, thus contributing 82.48 per cent to the total equity turnover volume.

The oil and gas industry followed with 96.818 million shares worth N644.178 million in 925 deals, while the consumer goods industry ranked third with a turnover of 83.134 million shares worth N3.244 billion in 2,114 deals.

Trading in top three equities- Zenith Bank Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, and Oando Plc, accounted for 877.505 million shares worth N16.146 billion in 1,423 deals, contributing 68.43 per cent to the total equity turnover volume.

On the outlook of the market, analysts’ at Afrinvest Securities Limited said:” In the coming week, we expect an undulating trend in market performance as the impact of bargain hunting in fundamentally sound stocks is expected to be countered by subsequent sell offs. However, we maintain our bearish outlook on the market over the near-term.”

Cordros Capital Limited, also expects negaitive sentiment to persist in the short and medium term.

“In the short to medium term, we expect the negative performance for the equities market to persist, amid growing political concerns ahead of 2019 elections and absence of a positive market trigger. However, positive macroeconomic fundamentals remain supportive of recovery in the long term,” the company noted.

For APT Securities and Funds, the stock market activities, amid day trading activities, would be moderately waned by “more investors’ bargain hunting tendencies.”

Further analysis of last week’s transactions showed that 30 equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than 24 in the previous week, as 24 equities depreciated in price, lower than 36 of the previous week, while 115 equities remained unchanged higher than 109 equities recorded in the preceding week.