The free fall of equities persisted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in the month of August with investors net worth depreciating further by 5.86 per cent. Data from the exchange showed that the All-Share Index during the period shed 2,169.33 points or 5.86 per cent to close at 34,848.45 against 37,017.78 in July. Also, the market capitalisation, in spite of the listing of Notore Chemical Industries, lost N687 billion or 5.12 per cent to close at N12.722 trillion compared with N13.409 trillion achieved in July.
Speaking on the market performance, Prof. Sheriffdeen Tella, Professor of Economics, Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye, said the capital market performed poorly in the month of August. Tella said the poor performance was caused by both local and international activities. “Locally, the economy was not performing due to late budget passage and late implementation in an economy that is public sector driven. On the international scene, there were large capital outflow from the markets as foreign investors were moving money out for investment elsewhere,” Tella said.
He said the implementation of the budget in this quarter would likely assist in stabilising the market. Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd. attributed the poor performance to the political environment ahead of the next year’s general elections in the midst of dwindling macro- economic indices. Omordion said the delayed implementation of the 2018 budget impacted negatively on the capital market and the economy in general. He said the volatility experienced so far in the second half of the year was a reflection of the negative factors against the market, amidst capital flight. According to him, the exit of foreign investors resulted to dwindling foreign reserve. Omordion urged investors and analysts to interpret the recent scorecards from first-tier banking stocks and other stocks to reposition their portfolios ahead of third quarter.
He advised the Federal Government to evolve policies that would drive recovery and influence the market positively. Analysis of the price movement table during the period showed that Ikeja Hotel emerged the worst performing stock in percentage terms. The stock during the period lost 27.48 per cent to close at N2.27 per share against N3.13 achieved in July. Other top losers’ were Law Union and Rock Insurance, GSK, Skye Bank, Forte Oil, Royal Exchange, Universal Insurance, CAP, Continental Reinsurance and Berger Paints. Conversely, Niger Insurance was the best performing stock in percentage terms with a growth of 69.23 per cent to close at 44k against 26k in July.
It was trailed by Portland Paints, Newest ASL, Neimeth Pharmaceuticals, AIICO Insurance, NEM Insurance, Eterna Oil, Hallmark Insurance, Transcorp and May & Baker. NAN also reports that a turnover of 5.40 billion shares valued at N66.92 billion were exchanged by investors in 68,906 deals during the period under review. This represented a decrease of 19.52 per cent compared with a turnover of 6.71 billion shares worth N 73. 04 billion transacted in 84,963 deals in July. An analysis of the activity chart indicated that the Financial Services Sector emerged the most active with an exchange 2.52 billion shares, valued N19.38 billion in 21,121 deals. It was trailed by the Services Sector with 209.97 million shares worth N1.31 billion in 2,157 deals. Consumer Goods sector came third with a turnover of 258.95 million shares valued at N14.02 billion in 11,252 deals.
