Top ten shares that resist the bears in 2015

As market records N1.63 trillion loss

The Nigerian equities market experienced the ravaging effect of the bears during year 2015. What this means in effect is that the investors who staked their funds in stocks in the market recorded various degree of losses during the year as a result of the decline in prices of equities.

The sum total of investors’ losses during the year, as obtained from available records was N1.63 trillion. This was arrived at from deducting the total market capitalization of all the equities in the market as at January 1, 2015 from the Market Capitalization on December 31, 2015. The Market Capitalization on January 1, 2015 was N11.48 trillion while the All-Share Index was 34,657.15. But on December 31, 2015, Market Capitalization slumped to N9,85 trillion and All-Share Index down to 28,642.25. This translated to a loss of N1.63 trillion and a slide of 6014.9 basic points in All-Share Index.

A close examination of the market’s outing during the year revealed that the bears were more ferocious in the months of January, August and November.

In January 2015, the Market Capitalization dipped from N11.48 trillion that it was at the beginning of the month to N9.86 trillion as at January 31, shedding N1.68 trillion in a period of 30 days. In August, the Market Capitalisation suffered another remarkable slide from N10.35 trillion that it was on July 31, to N9.91 trillion, as at August 31, a loss of N44 billion for that month.

In November, the market had a record low indices with Capitalization nose-diving to N9.50 trillion and All-Share Index slumping to 27,617.45 the lowest in the year.

The Month of December, in spite of being a notorious period of bears’ market, recorded a sluggish upswing in Market Capitalisation and All-Share Index with both inching up to N9.85 trillion and 28,642.25, amounting to an appreciation of N35 billion and 1024.8 basic points respectively over the market position in November.

Interestingly, the market was at its peak during the feverish election campaign month of April, with a record high Market Capitalisation of N11.79 trillion. Thereafter, the indices began to slump to N11.66 trillion in May (a loss of N13 billion) and down again to N11.22 trillion in June (a depreciation of N44 billion during that month).

Despite the bear induce shares’ holocaust during the year, there were some blue chip equities that survived the onslaught.

These included Okomu Oil, which appreciated from N25.35 as at December 31, 2014 to N27.67 as at December 31, 2015. PRESCO Oil N24.25 to N32.50, UACN Property N6.08 to N6.09, Seven-Up N160.00 to N182.00, PZ N23.33 to N25.70, Unilever N35.60 N43.25.

Others included Ashaka Cement N22.40 to N25.00, Berger N9.00 to N10.00, CAP N37.50 to N37.60, FO N227.23 to N315.00.