Stock Investors Lose Another N87bn as Market Rout Continues

• Stock Investors Lose Another N87bn as Market Rout Continues

The Nigerian stock market extended its losing streak as uncertainty and weak sentiment chase investors from the exchange.

The stock exchange lost N87 billion on Thursday after losing N111 billion on Monday, N68 billion on Tuesday and N77 billion on Wednesday to take its total losses this week to N343 billion.

On Thursday, increased sell-off plunged market capitalisation of listed equities from N13.667 trillion on Wednesday to N13.580 trillion, representing another N87 billion decline.

The NSE All-Share Index declined by 0.64 percent to settle at 27,864.49 basis points.

Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated led top sell-off stocks to drag the year-to-date loss to –11.3 percent.

Activity on the floor dipped on Thursday as only 175.4 million units of shares valued at N2 were traded in 2,653 deals, another decline of 28 percent in volume and 30.2 percent in value.

FBN Holdings Plc (33.3 million units), Zenith Bank Plc (21.2 million units) and Sterling Bank Plc (16.7 million units) were the most traded stocks by volume.

While the Nigerian Breweries Plc (N461.3 million), Zenith Bank (N395.1 million) and MTN Nigeria (N334.0 million) were the most traded stocks by value.

All traded sectors closed in the red except industrial goods sector which advanced by 0.06 percent on Thursday.

Nigerian stock investors remain wary of economic uncertainty even with rising foreign reserves. Experts said until President Buhari form a cabinet and provide a clear economic path for investors presently on the sideline, the stock exchange will remain weak.