Nigeria's stock market down 5% year to date

Nigeria's equities market is facing challenges as it is down over five per cent year to date. Kayode Omosebi, Investment Analyst at A.R.M, provided a review of the market's performance. Omosebi highlighted that the market saw losses in key stocks such as Dangote Cement, FBN Holdings, and Okomu Oil. These losses were attributed to profit-taking by investors and reactions to expectations for Q1 results. Despite Okomu Oil posting fantastic results for the year 2016, its share price has come under pressure with a decline of 5%. Investors are taking profit on the stock amidst concerns about the outlook for the company in 2017. Similarly, Wando, another stock, faced losses despite improved quarterly results and efforts to restructure its business. Omosebi mentioned that the appreciation of the Naira in the parallel market by 1.3% was primarily driven by the Central Bank of Nigeria injecting dollars into the market to ease pressure on the parallel market. This move has helped stabilize the Naira against foreign currencies. Overall, investors are closely monitoring market developments and positioning themselves based on company performance and currency movements.