By Babajide Komolafe
INVESTORS lost N109 billion on the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) in the first two days of the week, following persistent declines in total value of shares listed on Exchange.
Unlike the Stock market, Forex trading is Online
NSE
Data from the NSE revealed that the market capitalisation, which represents total value of shares on the exchange, fell by N31.1 billion on Monday and further by N78.6 billion yesterday. On Monday capitalisation fell from N9.376 trillion to N9.344 trillion, while it fell further to N9.266 trillion.
Following the same pattern, the NSE All share Index fell from 27,631 last week to 27,205 on Monday, and further to 26,950 yesterday.
Recall that last week, the NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalization depreciated by 1.31 percent to close the week at 27,269.71 and N9.376 trillion respectively.
Analysts at Afrinvest attributed the decline in market capitalisation this week to profit taking by investors on some blue chip shares. Commenting on the N78.6 billion lose yesterday, they noted, “The poor performance was majorly driven by losses in Guinness (-4.3 percent), Zenith (-3.5 percent) and Nigerian Breweries (-1.6 percent). Consequently, market capitalization declined N78.6bn to settle at N9.3tn. Activity level in the market also weakened at the close of trade as volume traded fell 54.7 percent to 189.3 million units although value traded rose 6.6 percent to N3.2 billion.
“All sector indices save for the Insurance index (+0.4 percent), closed in the red. The Consumer Goods index was the biggest sector loser today (-1.0%) as price depreciation in GUINNESS (-4.3 percent) and Nigerian Breweries (-1.6 percent) dragged the index. Similarly, the Banking index lost 0.8 percent consequent on sell offs in Zenith(-3.5 percent) and access (-4.3 percent). The Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods indices also followed suit, depreciating 0.6 percent and 0.4 percent respectively.
“Investor sentiments in the bourse remained weak today as seen in the market breadth of 0.4x resulting from 14 stocks advancing against 38 declining stocks. The gainers’ chart was topped by Julius Berger (+5.0 percent), LearnAfrca (+4.9 percent) and Unilever(+4.9percent) while Skyebank (-9.5percent), Transcorp (-5.3 percent ) and Etranzact (-5.0 percent) were the biggest losers.
“The persistent dip in market performance buttresses the need for investors to stay cautious especially in the short term, even as we consider the current prices attractive for medium to long term investment positioning.”

Flets:
What is Buhari's economic direction? I need an answer.

kodded:
we have a dulllard as a president

BEATDABOOKIES:
fuvvvk biafranss

Gaborone:


Recently at the office, my boss walked up to us -his employees- and gave an impassioned talk about President Buhari's style of governance. He said, while he thought Buhari's attempt at recovering stolen funds was not out of place in itself, he was giving way too much attention to it. According to him, the President's lack of priority in this regard had become counter-productive and had started to prove detrimental to other areas that are in dire need his attention.

To drive home his point, he gave us a parable of an employer who kept N20,000 in his office somewhere, and on coming back to take it, he discovered that one of his Clerks had run off with it. After the discovery, the employer took the keys to the office, locked it up. He ran out with as much fury as he could muster, shouting to the hearing of all who would listen, "Who saw my boy?!!!", "Please, help me find him and get my money!!" All the while this employer was out looking for the stolen money, his shop remained under lock and key, no monies coming out, no monies going in. No customer, no profits in sight; he was making losses with every turn. Yet, ALL that mattered to him remained getting the thief of a boy, and recovering the stolen money.

My boss likened the employer in the above parable to President Buhari. He says our President has practically closed shop -Nigeria- and has decided to channel all his energy into getting stolen funds, forgetting that there is a bigger picture -an economy- that needs urgent attention; forgetting that the country might be going into a recession; forgetting that people are losing their jobs, forgetting that foreign investors are leaving, and more are 'plotting' to close shop and leave Nigeria; forgetting that an economy is not run by stolen funds which are recovered, but that if anything, they are to be regarded as "extras".

The above is how my boss sees things right now, and I agree with him.

I have to agree because, since coming into office, the activities of President Buhari's government has centered around just two things: 1. Foreign trips; and 2. Instigating the prosecution of looters of the past (who I must mention are not pro his government or pro-Apc). While the relevance of the above two can really not be downplayed, the fact remains that attention need to be given to the economy of Nigeria. As my boss said, no country has ever been run on recovered funds. Me thinks he needs to stay home a bit more, and pay attention to the alarms being raised by the World Bank and other bodies about Nigeria's economy. He needs to share that attention he is giving the boy who stole the money.

BEATDABOOKIES:
fuvvvk biafranss

Flets:
What is Buhari's economic direction? I need an answer.