Sell pressures continued in the stock
market as fear of Coronavirus (COVID-19) remains unabated with investors losing
over N99 billion in the first two trading days of the week. The market
capitalisation, which represents the value of shares in all the companies
quoted in the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, declined to N11.747 trillion on
Tuesday from N11.846 trillion on Friday.
The decline which resumed on Monday with a N14 billion loss
after a one-day break last Friday, escalated to N85 billion yesterday.
Meanwhile, the sell pressures on Tuesday in Dangote
Cement (-10.0 percent), International Breweries (-9.6 percent)
and NASCON Salt (-10.0 percent) drove the Nigerian
Stock Exchange, NSE All-Share Index down by 0.7 percent or 71 bases points, bps
to 22,543.07 points. Consequently, Year to Date, YtD return worsened to
-16.0 percent. Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth improved as
27 stocks advanced relative to 11 decliners. Reacting, analysts at
Afrinvest Research stated: “We expect the bearish sentiment to persist for the
rest of the week. However, we note that there are opportunities for bargain
hunting.”