N555billion lost in one week

It is certainly not the best of times for Nigeria’s stock market players as they watch the value of their portfolios dwindling.

In one week from 4 January till 11 January,  Nigerian Stock Exchange lost N555 billion as a result of price losses.

The All-Share Index, which opened for the year at 28,642.25,  also lost 2252.07 points by Jan. 11 to close trading at 26,390.16 points.

The market capitalisation, which opened for the year at N9.850 trillion, shed N555 billion to close at N9.295 trillion due to massive sell pressure

Some capital market operators on Tuesday predicted that the current lull in the capital market might persist till the second quarter of 2016.

They said  that the market might not recover until the implementation of 2016 budget.

Mallam Garba Kurfi, the Managing Director, APT Securities and Funds Ltd., Lagos, said that activities in capital market would continue to be low key because of investors’ apathy.

Kurfi said the slide in crude oil price, the security challenges and depreciation of the nation’s currency were major issues affecting the capital market.

He said the government’s stance on currency devaluation was scaring foreign investors away from the capital market because they felt the naira was ‘unfairly’ valued.

Kurfi urged the government to close the wide margin between the official and parallel markets’ rates to boost foreign investors’ confidence.

Alhaji Rasheed Yussuf, the immediate Past President, Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON), said that there were other factors which were yet to be addressed.

Yussuf said there was no attraction to the market at the moment although the market fundamentals were strong.

He called on investors to take advantage of the relatively low price of some stocks to increase their stakes in the market.

Reported by NAN