U.S. stocks closed higher yesterday, following impressive data for a potential COVID-19 vaccine and a strong quarterly report by America’s leading investment bank, Goldman Sachs.

Recall that some hours ago, Nairametrics reported on Moderna Inc rallying after a small-scale study showed that its experimental COVID-19 vaccine produced high levels of virus-killing antibodies.

Moderna’s shares gain over 16% as COVID-19 vaccine passes first human trial

“The Moderna news woke everybody again that this is not going to last forever, and there is light at the end of the tunnel. That is why you are seeing such a strong move today into those economically sensitive stocks,” said Tim Ghriskey, Chief Investment Strategist Inverness Counsel in New York in a note Reuters.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Bourse begins Q3 2020 on a bullish note, BUACEMENT triggers rally 

America’s elite bank Goldman Sachs surged after it reported that its trading revenue doubled in the second quarter, driven by high volatility in stock and bond markets since March.

In addition, Stephen Innes, Chief Global Market Strategist at AxiCorp, in a note to Nairametrics, explained geopolitical macros, affecting the U.S Stock market. He said:

“The S&P500 closed on an upbeat note as US equities continued to defy all gravity as investor optimism revels amid the progress in developing a vaccine which continues to reign supreme.

READ ALSO: U.S Stock futures soar high as investors await earning results

“Adding to the positive vibe, President Trump defused the US-China tensions and walked back an unwanted element of geopolitical risk that quite frankly no one wanted or needed at this point with COVID-19 ravaging large parts of the US consumer complex.

“The President’s backpedaling is coming at a good time and keeping the omnipresent bears and prophets of doom at bay for now.”

The Nigerian bourse closed flat on Wednesday, as the All-Share Index and Market Capitalization improved 0.06% to 24,130.26 points and N12.587 trillion.

Consequently, YTD currently stands at 3.85%. A turnover of 208.20 million shares, valued at N1.761 billion was traded by investors in 3,648 deals. STERLNBK was the most traded stock by volume at 77.1million units, while ZENITH BANK finished the most traded stock by value at N247.8million.

Market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, closed in favour of the bear with 15 tickers closing in red relative to 12 gainers. JBERGER and NB were the top losers of the day with -9.88% and -9.84% declines respectively; while CUTIX and DANGSUGAR recorded the largest gains with +7.69% and +5.17% gains in share value.

Across sectors, two of the five indexes under our coverage gained. Price appreciation in GUARANTY (+0.94%) and ACCESS BANK moved the Banking index up by 0.37%, while the Industrial Goods trailed to gain 0.01%.

Conversely, the Consumer Goods and Insurance indexes were down -1.39% and -0.89% respectively on the back of sell-offs in NB (-9.84%), PZ (-3.33%) and WAPIC (-9.09%), while the Oil and Gas Index

READ MORE:Nigerian bourse gains N37.26 billion, triggered by BUACEMENT, ZENITH

Top gainers 

CUTIX up 7.69% to close at N1.82,DANGSUGAR up 5.17% to close at N12.2AIRTELAFRI up 3.44% to close at N340,GUARANTY up 0.94% to close at N21.5,ACCESS up 0.82% to close at N6.15.

Top losers 

JBERGER down 9.88% to close at N15.5, NB down 9.84% to close at N30.7, CAVERTON down 6.15% to close at N1.83, STANBIC down 4.13% to close at N29, PZ down 3.33% to close at N4.35.

Outlook 

Nigerian bourse ended flat on Wednesday coupled with thin market liquidity, amid soaring crude oil prices. Nairametrics envisages cautious buying, as many investors remain on the sidelines.

Capital Market Operators (CMOs) have noted their desire for the suspension of plans regarding the recapitalisation of the stockbroking community, calling on regulators to consider the current economic realities posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

President, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), Mr Tunde Amolegbe, made this known at a webinar organized by the Capital Market Academics of Nigeria themed: “Mitigating the Impact of COVID -19 on the Capital Market.” 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in February had made mention its plans for the recapitalisation of stockbroking firms ahead of the ownership change of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). At the webinar, Amolegbe called for regulators to suspend such plans for now as a result of the constraints of the coronavirus pandemic. 

READ ALSO: Recapitalisation: Six insurance companies set to merge

Ms Mary Uduk, then SEC acting Director-General, in explaining the overall sentiments, consequently, had noted that only 10 per cent of the 255 stockbroking firms controlling 80 per cent of the market activities, believed that there was a need for recapitalisation. 

Amolegbe explained further stating that the pandemic had slowed down NSE demutualisation programme. The implication of this will thus be a possible aggravation of the funding challenge of the CIS. Given its level of importance, he believed that the Federal Government should treat the capital market as a priority sector in terms of pandemic alleviation strategies. 

 “In view of the existing major constraints with regard to trading liquidity, the Central Bank of Nigeria should formulate policies that will drive more liquidity into the hands of CMOs, especially equity traders,” he said. He added that the stability and growth of the equity market would eventually lead to an overall market rebound as well as growth in the economy. 

 The CIS president also emphasized the need for the launch of a derivatives market as it is required to hedge investments at a period of heightened risks such as this. He observed that the Nigerian capital market had been hamstringed even before the pandemic challenge. 

 “The equity market, which drives performance of the other market segments had been characterised by low investor patronage and low liquidity ever since the global financial crisis which hit Nigeria in 2008,” he said.