NSE capitalisation falls as US, European stocks rise

The market capitalisation of listed equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange fell on Monday, in contrast to the appreciations recorded in most global stocks at the close of business.The NSE capitalisation declined by N6bn to close at N6.326tn. Activities on the Exchange had opened with a capitalisation of N6.332tn. Reuters reported that world stocks rose from last weeks seven-week low on Monday and noted that the cost of insuring euro zone government bonds against default fell broadly as hopes grew that euro zone leaders would unveil fresh measures to resolve the two-year-old debt crisis. The agency said a warning by Moodys that the rapid escalation of the regions sovereign and banking crisis threatened the rating of all European government bonds and cautioned ahead of next weeks key European summit capped gains on the euro and top-rated German bond yields.Kicking off a mini rally in world stocks after 10 consecutive days of losses was an un-sourced report in Italian daily La Stampa. It suggested the International Monetary Fund was preparing a rescue plan for Italy worth up to 600 billion euros ($796bn). This was later dismissed by an IMF spokesperson."The IMF report was denied and this brings the markets focus back to how critical a stage the sovereign debt crisis is," Senior Currency Analyst at Rabobank, Jane Foley, said. "The euro looks very vulnerable in a week where there is an awful amount of supply from euro zone countries. Trade will be directional and will be based on how the response is to these auctions." According to Reuters, the MSCI world equity index gained 1.5 per cent.The index is down nearly by 15 per cent since January and more than 22 per cent since hitting a three-year high in May. European stocks and emerging stocks both rose around two per cent. United States stock futures were up by 2.75 per cent, pointing to a firmer open on Wall Street later. The report also showed that the market was expected to get some support from the news that US retailers racked up a record $52.4bn in sales over the Thanksgiving weekend, a 16.4 per cent jump.
Click here to read full news..