Stock market lost N1.732tn in one year under Buhari’s government

By Ameh Comrade Godwin on May 31, 2016@dailypostngr

The Nigerian stock market crashed by N1.732tn within one year under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.

President Buhari assumed power on May 29, 2015 after winning the presidential election.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange data showed that the NSE market capitalisation on May 28, 2015 was N11.658tn, while that of May 27, 2016 was N9.926tn.

Market capitalisation is the total market value of the shares outstanding of a publicly traded company, Punch reports.

The NSE All-Share Index also crashed to 28,902.25 basis points from 34,310.37 basis points.

According to the report, investors in the country’s capital market (equity category) lost over N1.053tn in the first quarter of 2016.

During the first three months this year, the equities market depreciated by 10.79 per cent.

As of the first day of trading this year (January 4), the NSE market capitalisation stood at N9.757tn, while the All-Share Index was 28,370.32 basis points.

But as of the last day of trading in 2016 Q1 (March 31), the market capitalisation and All-Share Index crashed to N8.704tn and 25,306.22 basis points, respectively.

Equity investors in the country’s capital market had, in the first seven trading days on the floor of the NSE in 2016, lost N804tn of their investment’s worth. Market capitalisation after the close of trading on the floor of the Exchange on the first seven days closed at N8.953tn.

The All-Share Index also dropped from 28,370.32 basis points recoded on the first day of trading in 2016 to 26,034.94 on the seventh trading day of this year.

The downward trend in the Nigerian stock market, weeks into 2016, did not show any sign of abating as the market capitalisation continued to fall, with 10 out of the 12 indices of the NSE recording negative stance 10 weeks into 2016.

The market capitalisation of the NSE fell by N811bn in the first 10 weeks of trading this year.

The NSE market capitalisation dropped from N9.75tn on January 4, 2016 to N8.939tn 10 weeks into the year, while the All-Share Index also closed at 25,988.40 basis points from the 28,643.67 basis points recorded on the first trading day of the year.

Investors had also made huge losses in the Nigerian equities market last year as the market capitalisation (equities only) of the NSE shed a total of N2.354tn between December 2014 and December 2015.

The President, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, last week, said the country’s capital market could not continue to lag behind in the global arena, adding that it needed to strategise for growth to better the economy.

Aig-Imoukhuede said part of the strategies was a broad consensus on sectorial priorities for growth, which should feed into policy formation.

He said, “Nigeria is facing a huge growth challenge. Nigeria, indeed, has a big challenge in terms of growth. Employment rate must grow owing to the fact that the population is also growing very fast. Growth is difficult to realise; so, government must stimulate growth.

“Nigeria is only exaggerating the impacts of falling oil prices now. This is because with a robust financial market the economy can be sustained. The financial market must be encouraged.”