Profit taking: Investors lose N73bn in 7 days

The Nigerian equities market recorded an NSE ASI drop by 1.12 per cent amidst increased trade volume and trade value figures relative to the previous weeks, as investors lost N73 billion to profit taking.

The equities market had began the week with an ASI close of 37,312.28 points on Monday as the succeeding days recorded daily changes of -0.96 per cent to close at 36,953.41 points on Tuesday, -0.91 per cent to close at 36,617.45 points on Wednesday, 0.05 per cent to close at 36,634.89 points on Thursday and 0.19 per cent to close at 36,703.58 on Friday.

Like the NSE ASI, Market capitalisation, year-to-date returns and inflation figures all decreased by -1.12 per cent, -4.07 per cent  and -0.44 per cent to close at N12.763 trillion, 36.57 per cent and 15.91 per cent respectively.

Week-on-Week transaction levels by volume and value both increased by 942.58 per cent  and 138.33 per cent as previous closes of 175 million shares valued at N2.64 billion closed at 1.8 million shares valued at N6.3 billion.

Profit taking persists as reflected by all sectoral indices save for NSE Industrial sector.

Market watchers at APT Securities, however, expected a level of bargain hunting in this week’s trading sessions, noting that although, Morgan Sterling Capital Index (MSCI) report could have a mild effect on the market generally but not for long as funds that tracks small cap› indices may likely hunt for the affected stocks and sectors at large.