A capital market expert,
Mr Sehinde Adenagbe, has attributed the continued downturn of the capital market to insecurity challenges and the 2015 elections.
Adenagbe told newsmen in Lagos that these were the reasons why the capital market had not reflected higher profitability and dividends by most quoted companies.
He said that the market was experiencing a sell pressure due to activities ahead of 2015 general elections.
According to him, most politicians who play active part in the market are off-loading their holdings to strategise for 2015 elections.
“This is because it is easier to dispose of equities than selling off real estate.
“Investors now think twice before investing because of the fear of uncertainties.
“Most investors no longer invest in long-term but on short-term because of the developments in the country,” Adenagbe said.
Adenagbe, who is the Managing Director, Standard Union Securities Ltd, Lagos, said that even brokers dispose of their shares whenever they made marginal gain to attend to sundry expenses.
Adenagbe, however, expressed optimism that the market would rebound when the political environment became stable.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index for last week lost 413.46 basis points or 1.05 per cent to close at 38,898.14 from the 39,311.60 achieved in the previous week.
The depreciation was due to price losses by major blue chips.
Similarly, the market capitalisation dropped by N137 billion to close at N12.791 trillion as against the N12.928 trillion posted in the comparative week.
Costain led on the gainers’ table in percentage terms by 13.91 per cent or 16k to close at N1.31 per share.
PZ Industries followed with a gain of 10.61 per cent or N3.55 to close at N37, while Livestock Feeds increased by 7.84 per cent or 0.24k to close at N3.30 per share.
Conversely, International Energy Insurance Company topped the losers’ chart for the week, declining by 14.52 per cent or 9k to close at 53k per share.
UBA Capital trailed with a loss of 11.92 per cent or 31k to close at N2.29, while Seplat dropped by 10.32 per cent or N68.79 to close at N598 per share.
In the week under review, a turnover of 2.06 billion shares worth N27.84 billion were traded in 20,413 deals.
This was against the 1.53 billion shares valued N14.31 billion transacted in 17,704 deals last week.
The financial services sector led the activity chart with 1.87 billion shares worth N18.43 billion traded in 12,470 deals.
The conglomerates sector followed with a turnover of 61.23 million shares valued N375.48 million exchanged in 1,079 deals.
The third place was occupied by the consumer goods industry with 57.91 million shares worth N6.58 billion achieved in 2,946 deals.