Nigerian stocks hit a three-year low on Friday, tracking a fall in global markets as investors digested the impact of this week's US rate hike. The stock market, which has the second-biggest weighting after Kuwait on the MSCI frontier market index, shed 1.54 percent at the close, dropping to levels last reached in December 2012. The index fell to 26,537 points.
Investors turned cautious on Friday about what a stronger dollar and weak commodity prices could mean for the world economy following Wednesday's 0.25 percent rate hike, the first by the US Federal Reserve since 2006. Analysts said the current bearish run in Nigerian equities will perhaps be sustained for a while in response to the improving pull of US investments. "The Fed's decision to hike rate will indeed impact on asset prices across emerging and frontier markets," said Robert Omotunde an analyst with Lagos-based Afrinvest Securities.
He noted that "the exit of most foreign investors in the Nigerian market appears to have been appropriately priced into stock prices, the weakening domestic currency moderating interest rate, poor corporate earnings, shaky monetary and fiscal policy responses are still likely impacting Buy-sentiment of most investors, Omotunde said.
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