Investors profit-taking in Banks shares, others down equities market by N1.85trn

Amidst global economy uncertainties and looming fear of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) devaluing naira, the share prices of most capitalised banks, other shares recorded surge investors profit-taking, leading to equities market dropping by N1.85trillion last week.

The equities market opened for trading at N13.695trillion, dropping 13.5per cent to close on last Friday at N11.847 trillion.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index (NSE ASI) also dropped by 13.49 per cent to 22,733.35 basis points from 26,279.61 basis points the equities market opened for trading last week.

Our correspondent gathered that all sectoral indices closed negative, expect for the NSE Alternative Securities Market (AseM) that closed flat last week.

The NSE Banking index top the chart, dropping 26.15per cent or 85.63 basis points to close at 852.50 basis points from 974.73 basis points it opened for trading last week.

Investors profit-taking in Zenith bank plc, Access Bank Plc, other dragged the NSE banking sector downward.

Our correspondent gathered that the share price of Zenith bank was among the top losers last week, dropping 36.70 per cent or N6.90 to close at N11.90 from N18.80 it opened for trading, while Access bank dipped by 36.47 per cent or N3.10 to close at N5.40 from N8.50.

The share price of Sterling bank plc also depreciated by 29.49 per cent to N1.10 while share price of Wema bank plc dropped by 26.23 per cent ot N0.16 to N0.45 from N0.61 it opened for trading last week.

Our correspondent gathered further that, the share price of United Bank for Africa sheds 10.87 per cent or N0.75 to close at N6.15 from N6.90 while FBN Holdings Plc shares moved from N5.35 to N4.00, dropping 25 per cent or N1.35 per share.

The CBN had said on Thursday night that it has not devalued the Naira and warned currency speculators and their collaborators that the apex bank will invoke the full weight of applicable sanctions on any persons and authorised dealers found to be involved in such disruptive and speculative market behaviour

Meanwhile, the NSE Consumer Goods depreciated by 14.79 per cent to 367.40 basis points from 431.16 basis points while NSE Oil & Gas down by 8.51 per cent to 215.81 basis points from 235.88 basis points.

Accordingly, the NSE performance in terms of Month-Till-Date (MtD) and Year-till-Date (YtD) losses increased to -11.9per cent and -15.3per cent, respectively.