Market capitalisation drops by N72bn

The market capitalisation of listed equities fell by a whopping N72bn on Wednesday, marking the largest one-day decline recorded in the last two weeks. The market had opened with a capitalisation of N6.388tn, but closed at N6.316tn.Also, as a result of the increased number of stocks that recorded losses at the close of the days transactions, the All Share Index of the Nigerian Stock Exchange fell substantially.A total of 26 stocks crashed prices at the close of activities, in contrast to the 12 that recorded price appreciation. This development was described by analysts as alarming.After moving up marginally the preceding day, the ASI plunged by 228.22 basis points or 1.14 per cent, down from 20,298.85 to close at 20,070.63 points on Wednesday.Accordingly, analysts, stock brokers and shareholders have said that something strategic must be done in order to save the market from utter collapse, although they noted that the fall in market equities was not peculiar to the Nigerian stock market.Shareholders, who spoke with our correspondent on Wednesday, expressed worry at the declining fortunes of the market, stressing that the regulators appeared to have no clue to the challenge of reviving the Exchange.They noted that if the fall in equities continued, investors might have no choice but to pull out their investments from the stock exchange.Meanwhile, analysts noted that the market might not recover this year. However, they said that investors should expect positive activities beginning from the first quarter of 2012.Four major indicators of the market recorded losses, while only one had marginal increase in points.The NSE Oil/Gas increased by 0.88 basis points to close at 244.79 points. The NSE 30 and NSE Food/Beverage decreased by 9.75 and 2.53 points to close at 895.35 and 566.75 points, respectively.The NSE Banking and NSE Insurance depreciated by 1.98 and 3.12 points, closing at 282.87 and 143.96 points, respectively.The banking sub-sector continued its lead on the activity chart, in terms of volume of equities traded. Investors in the sub-sector exchanged a total of 187.975 million shares, valued at N1.192bn in 1,673 transactions.Trading in the shares of Access Bank Plc drove turnover in the sub-sector at the close of business, with activities in the banking sub-sector accounting for 72.7 per cent of total turnover for the day.Forte Oil Plc led the price gainers, rising by 4.97 per cent or 0.70 to close at N14.79 per share.
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