With the staggering depreciation of crude oil for more than 30 per cent overnight and presently below $34 a barrel and continued spread of coronavirus, the local stock market reacted suffering a massive loss on Monday, as all stocks depreciated in value save Chi Plc’s.
The Nigerian bourse fell by 2.4 per cent, the largest decline since 12th September 2019, leaving the Month-to-Date (YtD) negative at 2.2 per cent and Year-to-Date (YtD) loss increasing to -4.5 per cent.
Specifically, the market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) shed N329.4 billion or 2.41 per cent, to close at N13.4 trillion, just as the All Share Index (ASI) lost 632.07 basis points to close at 25,647.54 points.
The total volume of trades decreased by 48.6 per cent to 185.65 million units, valued at N1.83 billion and exchanged in 2,690 deals. Zenith Bank was the most traded stock by volume and value at 53.51 million units and N907.08 million respectively.
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All sectors indices closed negative with the Banking index recorded the largest loss at nine per cent following declines in the Tier I banks. The Consumer Goods Index also shed -2.5 per cent, Insurance declined by -2.4 per cent, Oil & Gas depreciated by -1.4 per cent and Industrial Goods reduced marginally by -0.01 per cent.
Market sentiment as measured by market breadth, was negative as 38 stocks lost, relative to 1 gainer. United Capital and Unilever Nigeria topped the loser’s list, having shed ten per cent while only Chi Plc advanced by 7.14 per cent.
The downtrend recorded on Monday was impacted by loses recorded in large and medium capitalized stocks, some of which are Access Bank, Unilever Nigeria, Fidelity Bank, Oando, Guaranty Trust Bank, Nigerian Breweries, Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa, Eco Bank Transnational Incorporated and Honeywell Flourmill.
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