Business
NSE Indices Close On Negative Note
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) key indicators for measurement corporate closed the first half of 2009 on the down side as the capital market recorded a negative average year-to-date return of 14.6 per cent, according stock market analysts.
The all share index, an index that measures changes in prices of all quoted companies on the exchange closed at 26,861.55 basis points in the first half of the year compared with 31,450.78 basis points at which it opened the year.
Also, the market capitalisation of listed equities was down by about 12 per cent having closed at N6.13 trillion during the review period down from N6.96 trillion recorded in January 2009.
An analysis of the sectoral indices showed that investors in the banking subsector stocks lost about 16 per cent while those in the insurance and petroleum subsectors had average return of -40 per cent and -41 per cent respectively.
The manufacturing subsector recorded a positive return of 9.10 per cent during the period.
In all, a turnover of 46.4 billion units of shares worth N301.54 billion was recorded in the first half as against a turnover of 121.62 billion units of shares valued at N1.73 trillion traded in the first half of 2008.
Average monthly turnover fell from N288 billion on 20.27 billion shares in the first half of 2008 to N50.26 billion on 7.73 billion shares in the first half of 2009.
Further analysis of the trading statistics for the first half showed that the turnover value dropped by 83 per cent and while the volume went down by 622 per cent dragging the average monthly turnover by about N238 billion.