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By Chinwendu Obienyi
Transactions in Nigeria’s stock market took a hit at the weekend with negative sentiments spreading as profit taking dictated proceedings in the domestic bourse.
This forced the All-Share Index (ASI) to decline on all the trading days of the week.
Precisely, the NGX ASI fell 2.6 per cent week-on-week (w/w) to close at 42,167.91 points, while market capitalisation fell by N595 billion to N22.003 trillion from N22.598 trillion.
Consequently, the Month-to-Date (MTD) and Year-to-Date (YTD) return settled at -2.5 per cent and -4.7 per cent, respectively. Furthermore, activity levels were weaker, as trading volumes and value decreased by 62.8 per cent w/w and 43.9 per cent w/w, respectively.
Further reviews reveal that the shares of FBN Holdings – currently embroiled in the ownership of majority shareholding saga, have been topsy-turvy.
According to market analysts who spoke to Daily Sun via telephone, this is connected to the current volatility hitting the stock market.
The bank’s shares resumed on a negative note, slipping 0.83 per cent before rising 0.42 per cent, 0.42 per cent and 0.4 per cent on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
However, Friday’s session saw the share of the bank drop to 2.1 per cent, leading to investors pressing the panic button. Daily Sun also learnt that some investors lost about 40 per cent of the holdings in the bank since the ownership saga begun.
However, the Managing Director, Highcap Securities Limited, David Adnori, noted that investors had rushed to acquire shares without knowing the real reason the bank shares were rising.
