Stock investors in Nigeria lost N281 billion at the end of the last five-day trading week during which the naira scarcity crisis in Nigeria also deepened to cast economic uncertainties and negative sentiment.
During the week, the All-Share Index (ASI) and market capitalisation of the Nigeria Exchange Limited (NGX) depreciated by 0.96 per cent and 0.95 per cent to close the week at 53,804.46 and N29.310 trillion respectively.
Also, all other indices finished lower with the exception of NGX Premium, NGX Insurance, NGX MERI Growth, NGX Consumer Goods, NGX Oil and Gas, NGX Industrial Goods and NGX Growth indices which appreciated by 0.54 per cent, 1.18 per cent, 0.44 per cent, 0.67 per cent, 0.91 per cent, 0.06 per cent and 7.15 per cent respectively, while the NGX ASeM and NGX Sovereign Bond indices closed flat
According to the NGX, 36 equities appreciated in price last week. This figure is higher than 24 equities that appreciated in the previous week. 27 equities depreciated in price lower than 45 in the previous week, while 94 equities remained unchanged, higher than 88 equities recorded in the previous week.
A total turnover of 751.990 million shares worth N20.575bn in 15,822 deals was traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 944.293 million shares valued at N22.710bn that exchanged hands in previous week in 18,615 deals.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 508.517 million shares valued at N6.212bn traded in 6,877 deals; thus contributing 67.62 per cent and 30.19 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The consumer goods industry followed with 86.346 million shares worth N4.806bn in 2,562 deals. The third place was the industrial goods industry, with a turnover of 34.305 million shares worth N3.635bn in 1,305 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc and FBN Holdings Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 249.667 million shares worth N3.915bn in 1,984 deals, contributing 33.20 per cent and 19.03 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Meanwhile, Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc has listed 2,373,947,500 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N1.55 per share on the daily official list of the Nigerian Exchange Limited.
With this listing of the additional 2,373,947,500 ordinary shares, the total issued and fully paid-up shares of Neimeth has now increased from 1,899,157,108 to 4,273,104,608 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.
![CPPE Pleads with CBN, Buhari to Review Process of Returning Old Notes The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise [CPPE] has pled with the Central Bank of Nigerian (CBN) and President Muhammadu Buhari to review the process through which Nigerians can return the old naira note they have at hand without losing their hard-earned money. In a statement signed Sunday by its chief executive officer, Muda Yusuf, CPPE beseeched the government to give a human face to the, lamenting that the agony and trauma inflicted by the entire management of the policy is unspeakable. Accordingly, CPPE urged the apex bank to allow the old 1,000 and 500 naira notes to be deposited at the commercial banks to ease the current pains and ordeal of returning the old notes. It further added: “The process should also be simplified to accommodate millions of rural dwellers, the informal sector players, the over 30 million unbanked Nigerians and several millions that are not literate. “The current guidelines which require filling of forms on the CBN portals, generating codes etc. does not reckon with millions of Nigerians that seek to return their old notes who are not literate, who don’t have access to internets and who are in very remote locations in various parts of the country. “They are Nigerians and are entitled to a fair consideration in the implementation process.” The Centre said most of the vulnerable victims of poor execution of the policy are women, microenterprises and small businesses which are contributing immensely to employment, poverty reduction and social stability at the bottom of the economic pyramid of the country. “It is bad enough that their lives and livelihoods have been terribly disrupted and disoriented. “We plead with the CBN to review its processes in the interest of fairness, justice and social inclusion,” the Centre said. Current approach Practically Impossible Meanwhile, the Centre said the current approach being employed by the apex to handle the process is evidently impractical. “It is impractical for the CBN offices to properly handle the process of receiving old currency notes which are still in abundance in the hands of millions of Nigerians. “It noted that there is only one branch of the CBN office in each state of the federation and the FCT. “It is practically impossible for the CBN to manage this process without subjecting our citizens to another round of harrowing experience.” It said the experience and images and disorderliness of the past few days at the CBN offices graphically illustrates this position. Conflicting Directives Businessmetrics reported that the CBN last week issued two conflicting directives within few hours which further heightened tension. While the CBN was believed to have directed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in the country to start taking deposit of old 1,000 and 500 naira notes of not more N500,000 from their customers, the apex bank deny same directive hours later which led to more confusion for Nigerians. Nigeria is currently undergoing the process of withdrawing the old version of N1,000 and N500 notes from the system, to be replaced with the redesigned version of the currency notes as well N200 which, President Muhammadu Buhari, however, said would still remain a legal tender in the meantime. In the face of scarce new notes coupled with old notes still held by Nigerians outside the banking system, the February 10 deadline given by the CBN to swap the noted has led to economic disruption and hardship for most Nigerians as they remain cashless.](https://i0.wp.com/businessmetricsng.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/WhatsApp-Image-2023-02-20-at-12.13.47-AM.jpeg?resize=1068%2C1068&ssl=1 "CPPE Pleads with CBN, Buhari to Review Process of Returning Old Naira Notes")
