#EndSARS: Nigerian stock market investors lose N113.1 billion
The Nigerian stock market could not sustain the bullish performance recorded earlier in the week as the market, Wednesday, plunged by 0.75 per cent following the curfew announced by the Lagos State as a result of the protest by Nigerian youths against police brutality, tagged #EndSARS.
Market analysts have expressed scepticism about bullish performance in subsequent trading sessions this week; even as investors position ahead of the third quarter, 2020 (Q3’20) earnings releases.
The analysts noted that foreign investors are always wary of insecurity in any economy and would begin to halt investments.
Analysts at InvestData Limited said: “We expect this volatility to continue, even as high Dividend Yields attract inflow to equity assets, ahead of the peak period of the Q3 earnings reporting season and momentum associated with earnings season in the midst of crude oil price oscillation.”
Meanwhile, investors on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, lost N113.1 billion as market capitalisation, which represents the total value of stocks traded on the Exchange fell to N14.9 trillion while Year to Date, YTD return weakened to 6.0 per cent.
As a result, the NSE All-Share Index, ASI declined 75 bases points, bps or 0.7 per cent to 28,449.49 points.
Activity level improved as volume and value traded rose by 9.8 per cent and 44.3 per cent to 326.6million units and N4.2billion respectively. The most traded stocks by volume were UBA (40.3million units), Zenith Bank (39.6million units) and Guaranty Trust Bank (38.3million units) while Guaranty Trust Bank (N1.1billion ), Zenith Bank (N800.9million) and Nestle (N479.9million) led by value.
Performance across sectors was lacklustre as all indices lost except Insurance index (0.6 per cent) which was buoyed by price appreciation in WAPIC (10.0 per cent). The Banking index lost the most, down 1.7 per cent following losses in Guaranty Trust (-1.3 per cent) and Zenith Bank (-1.2 per cent).
Today.ng