Scary, the NSE lost over N5trillion between March and December 2008. While this is worrying, I think this was something that had to happen. A lot of the stocks had become irrationally priced and a market correction was necessary. Read the report from Vanguard Newspapers below:

The Nigerian stock mar ket in the financial year 2008 lost over N5 trillion between March and December 2008 as a result of the world financial crisis.
The Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) in its reaction at the beginning of the new year said the market would have been very vibrant throughout the year under review but for the global financial crisis.

Meanwhile, despite the financial meltdown that befell the NSE , greater volume of shares were traded in 2008 compared with the previous year. A cursory review of activity in 2008 shows that the market recorded total turnover volume of N193.14 billion shares valued at N2.4 trillion exchanged by investors in 3,535,528billion deals.

In the comparable period during 2007, total transactions were 128.5 billion shares valued at N1.92 trillion traded in 2,388,839 billion deals.
First Bank of Nigeria Plc was the most capitalized stock for the month of December, with a market capitalization of N524.85 billion, while Zenith Bank Plc was second with N368.4 billion and Nigerian Breweries Plc recorded N308.93 billion to occupy the third position. Oceanic Bank International Plc and Ecobank Transnational Incorporation occupied the fourth and fifth positions to complete the Top five.

While there was improvement in turnover volume, the reverse was the case with turnover value. A turnover of 9.7 billion shares worth N44.3 billion in 136,932 deals was recorded in December 2008, in contrast to a total of 8 billion shares valued at N66.83 billion exchanged during November 2008 in 188,544 deals.
Consequently, available statistics showed that in 2008 the Insurance subsector was the most active (measured by turnover volume) with traded volume of 4.5 billion shares valued at N3.85 billion exchanged in 12,815 deals while the Banking subsector was second with traded volume of 3.31 billion shares valued at N28.12 billion exchanged in 81,501 deals.

The Information Communication and Telecommunication subsector came third with transaction volume of 630.8 million shares valued at N1.52 billion traded in 2,690 deals.

The market value of the 301 listed securities closed at N9.563 trillion, down by 5.42% from N10.11 trillion recorded in the month of November. The 213 listed equities accounted for N7 trillion or 73.1% of total market capitalization down from 72.65% in November 2008.

Equities from the Banking subsector occupied the top two positions on the market capitalization table down from top four in the preceding month while only the top two stocks retained their preceding month’s positions.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index, which opened at 33,025.75 closed at 31,450.78. This shows a decline by 4.8 per cent during the month compared to a decline by 9.1 per cent in November. The market recorded 24 gainers and 96 losers during December 2008 while the prices of 93 equities remained constant. Last month, the market recorded 24 gainers and 94 losers.

Of the Top 10 companies in December, three of them namely Ecobank Nigeria Plc, Nestle Nigeria Plc and Access Bank Plc retained their November ranks. Five stocks namely Nigerian Breweries Plc, Intercontinental Bank Plc, PlatinumHabib Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc and Guinness Nigeria Plc recorded increases in market capitalization.