If you need further confirmation about the bloodbath that took place last week then this excerpt below from a Bloomberg article confirms how bad the last two weeks has been for Nigerian equities.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index dropped 3.7 percent to 33,225.75 by the close in Lagos a 12th day of declines in the longest losing streak since January 2009. The gauge has tumbled 23 percent from this year’s high on July 9, the most among world equity measures tracked by Bloomberg. The naira surged, erasing a decline after Deputy Governor Sarah Alade said the central bank was selling dollars to the market.
The article also confirms how a crash in oil prices is putting intense pressure on the naira and offers an explanation why foreign portfolio investors are selling.
“There is a risk to the investment of foreign portfolio investors by the fall in oil price. In order to preserve their capital, they’re dumping Nigerian stocks,” Sewa Wusu, an analyst at Sterling Capital Markets, said by phone from Lagos. “The ability of the central bank to keep up with the intervention will depend on the extent of pressure it gets.”
About 50 stocks cutting accross banks, oil and gas and the manufacturing sector all saw major declines in values. There is no indication that this bloodbath is expected to stop with the index looking to open lower when trading resumes again on Monday.
The rest of the article is in Bloomberg
