Nigerian Stock Exchange shrinks by N281 billion margin
By Correspondent
With the recent bearish trading recorded in stock exchange, the Nigerian equities market shed N281 billion in market capitalisation in February. At the close of trading on Tuesday, February 28th 2017, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) market capitalisation stood at N8.765 trillion. This was a downward move from N9.046 trillion at the beginning of the month.Same was with the NSE All-Share Index (ASI) which shed 3.6 per cent in February, with a decline from 26,289.95 to close at 25,329.08Market operators have made it known that the bearish trend witnessed in 2016, would remain in 2017. This is occasioned by the dampening of investors’ demand for equities.Investors are attracted to the sector of the market owing to the high rates of returns in fixed income. However, foreign exchange challenges have scared many foreign investors from the market.Poor earnings too by some companies caused by the operating challenges have also contributed to the drag on the market.Analysts at Meristem Securities Limited, an investment banking firm, had revealed in 2016, that the market sentiments reduced under continual pressure from a load of negative news influx, such as inflationary pressure, and the paucity of foreign exchange (FX). This eventually resulted to the further depreciation of naira against major currencies.According to the revelation, the activities of the equities market in 2017 would remain weak in the first half of the year as a result of existing macroeconomic doubts, while they hope that towards the end of the year a modest recovery is possible.“However, we note that market recovery is partly hinged on stability in the FX market and moderation in exchange rate gap between the interbank and parallel markets. Based on our mix of methodologies, we arrived at a 2017 index level of 27,812, 50, indicating a +3.49 per cent potential market return by December 31, 2017″, they declared. Discover more from NewsBreakers
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
What's your reaction?
Excited
0
Happy
0
In Love
0
Not Sure
0
Silly
0
