Some shareholder groups
on Monday in Lagos decried the free fall of equities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), The Tide source reports.
The shareholders said that government needed to pursue policies that would propel economic activities and boost investor confidence.
They urged the Federal Government to pursue a friendly economic blueprint that would revamp the economy.
The NSE market capitalisation last week lost N1.21 trillion or 13 per cent to close at N8.087 trillion against N9.296 trillion achieved in the preceding week.
Also, the All-Share Index which opened for the week at 27,028.39 lost 3514.35 points or 13 per cent to close at 23,514.04 due to massive profit taking.
A turnover of 1.46 billion shares worth N14.17 billion were exchanged by investors’ in 15,164 deals last week.
This was against 899.60 million shares valued at N7.67 billion traded in 14,164 deals in the corresponding week.
The Financial Services Industry led the week’s activity chart with 1.29 billion shares worth N8.95 billion transacted in 10,020 deals.
The Consumer Goods sector followed with 59.83 million shares worth N3.07 billion achieved in 2,165 deals.
The third place was occupied by the conglomerates Industry with a turnover of 56.61 million shares worth N152.95 million in 695 deals.
Reports also say that the market since the beginning of 2016 had dropped by 17.89 per cent, compared with 17.4 per cent decline posted in 2015.
Alhaji Gbadebo Olatokunbo, a founding member of Nigeria Shareholders Solidarity Association, said that government should work harder to fix the economy.
Olatokunbo said that National Assembly members should ensure a speedy passage of the budget.
“We expect NASS to hit the ground running instead of the rumour of missing or new-versions of the budget.
“Nigerians expect all hands to be on deck for the betterment of the economy,’’ Olatokunbo said.
He said that government at all levels should ensure discipline in order to correct the errors of the past.
“We messed up our economy and have to pay the price, and until things get back to order, we have to live with the sad situation we have created,’’ he added.
The shareholder, however, said that bad habits of the past years could not be fixed within a very short period.
He noted that the ongoing downward trend did not affect the book values of quoted companies, but their price of equities.
Olatokunbo said the fundamentals of quoted companies were sound and strong, adding that stocks would bounce back once the economy recovered.
President, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Mr Boniface Okezie, said that government should pursue diversification to enhance revenue generation.
Okezie said he was optimistic that the market would pick up with friendly economic and foreign exchange policies.
He said that government could not bail the market with funds, urging the country to learn from the lessons of China.
Okezie said the free fall would continue if market regulators failed to pursue strategies that would bring retail investors back to the market.
He blamed the NSE, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Central Bank of Nigeria for the current market development.