By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited further lost 1.04 per cent on Thursday, making it the eighth consecutive trading day the market has been in the red territory.
Business Post observed that these recent sell-offs have been caused by the decision of some offshore investors to exit the market. This was triggered by the recent comments by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, that those who withdraw the Naira to buy Dollars would be prosecuted.
In order not to find themselves in a situation they will not be able to repatriate their funds, just like what happened in 2020, foreign portfolio investors are liquidating their Naira investments to save in a more stable currency like the greenback, causing the stock market to bleed excessively.
Yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) shed 521.41 points to settle at 49,667.14 points from 50,188.55 points, while the market capitalisation moderated by N281 billion to N26.784 trillion from N27.065 trillion.
Investor sentiment remained weak as a total of 10 stocks appreciated as 28 stocks recorded losses, with Lasaco Assurance depreciating by 10.00 per cent to sell for 90 Kobo.
Stanbic IBTC declined by 9.98 per cent to N28.40, Cadbury Nigeria fell by 9.94 per cent to N15.40, Nestle Nigeria dropped 9.84 per cent to trade at N1262.30, while Axa Mansard went down by 9.47 per cent to settle at N1.72.
Conversely, appreciated by 9.23 per cent to N3.55, RT Briscoe rose by 8.57 per cent to 38 Kobo, Chams grew by 8.33 per cent to 26 Kobo, Custodian Investment went up by 7.94 per cent to N6.80, while Livestock Feeds chalked up 4.35 per cent to close at N1.20.
During the session, the energy space gained 0.59 per cent, while the consumer goods index dropped 3.77 per cent, the banking index fell by 3.54 per cent, the insurance counter lost 3.19 per cent, while the industrial goods sector shed 0.46 per cent.
A total of 206.2 million shares worth N3.9 billion were bought and sold in 5,053 deals on Thursday as against the 829.5 million shares worth N4.1 billion exchanged in 4,977 deals on Wednesday, implying a decline in the trading volume and value by 75.14 per cent and 4.49 per cent respectively and an increase in the number of deals by 1.53 per cent.
The stock with the highest number of sales was Transcorp as it traded 38.5 million units valued at N39.0 million, followed by Zenith Bank with 16.9 million units worth N333.7 million, Chams with the sale of 13.6 million units for N3.3 million, GTCO with a turnover of 12.7 million units worth N244.8 million, and UBA with 12.6 million units valued at N86.9 million.
