Investors Stake N183bn on 47bn Shares in Four Months

Goddy Egene
Investors invested about N182.845 billion in 46.758 billion between January and April 2016. Statistics obtained by THISDAY showed that investors staked N99 billion on 18.336 billion shares in January and February and N83.845 billion on 28.433 billion shares in March and April 2016.

An analysis of the performance showed that February accounted for the highest value of investment. Investors traded N57.145 billion on 12.166 billion shares in February compared to N42.05 billion staked on 5.668 billion shares valued at N42.05 billion in January.

A further analysis of the performance in February indicated that the highest volume and value of shares were traded in the first week, where investors exchanged 5.087 billion shares valued at N18.488 billion. This was followed by last week, which accounted for 4.47 billion shares worth N11.742 billion, while the second week recorded 1.407 billion shares valued at N17.277 billion. Investors traded 1.202 billion shares for N9.641 billion in the third week of the month.

A breakdown of trading data for the month January 2016 had shown that the second week accounted for the highest value of transaction. Investors staked N14.165 billion on 2.177 billion shares in 21,471 deals. The third week followed with N10.753 billion invested in 2.177 billion shares in 21,471 deals, while the fourth week recorded N9.463 billion staked on 1.133 billion shares in 16,680 deals. The first week accounted for the lowest transaction with investors investing N7.669 billion in 899 million shares in 14,164 deals.

In March, the highest value of investment was made in the third week as investors staked N18.338 billion on 11.907 billion exchanged in 19,508 deals. The fourth week accounted for N10.453 billion invested in 1.552 billion shares in 14,994 deals, while N7.992 billion was invested in 1.476 billion shares in 15,743 deals. The second week recorded N7.448 billion staked on 1.111 billion shares in 15,562 deals.

For the month of April, investors staked N13.326 billion on 8.054 shares traded in 15,212 deals in the third week. The fifth week accounted for N7.115 billion invested in 1.210 billion in 15,973 deals, just as the first week accounted for N6.429 billion invested in 1.262 billion shares in 12,274deals. Investors committed N6.201 billion in 1.111 billion shares in 15,315 deals in second week, while the fourth week recorded N5.829 billion, invested in 88.367 million shares in 13,870 deals.

Market analysts had said performance of the market reflects the economic headwinds, which have affected the market performance. The Nigerian equities market is currently suffering from the impact of adverse macro-economic situation largely due to a drastic drop in the price of oil, negative public sentiment which is related to the state of the macro-economy and exit of foreign portfolio investors in reaction to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on policy on foreign exchange.

The headwinds notwithstanding, the Chief Executive Officer of the NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema had advised investors to take a portfolio approach to investing in the market.
According to Onyema the current state of the market created both challenges and opportunities for investors.

“We believe that taking a portfolio approach to investing provides the best risk adjusted alternative for participating in the capital market. As such, we want to ensure that the NSE provides a repertoire of products that will allow investors to create well diversified portfolios of uncorrelated asset classes,” he said.