Nigerian stocks down by 2.21% as fear of coronavirus in Lagos grips investors

Nigeria's equity market loses 2.21% as coronavirus outbreak hit Lagos.
Sub Saharan Africa may lose up to $4 billion worth of exports over the outbreak
World markets wipe off $5 trillion in total value.

The Nigerian equities market closed negative today as All Shares Index (ASI) lost 2.21% to close at 26,216.46 points as against 0.62% depreciation recorded previously.

The market capitalisation lost N308 billion to close at N13.657 trillion against N13.965 trillion on Thursday.

On Thursday, the authorities reported the first confirmed case of deadly coronavirus in Sub Saharan Africa. The virus has ravaged the world economy, including the US and China stocks have hit the rock in recent days.

During today’s trade, the market breadth index was negative with only two gainers against 41 losers, while Year-to-Date (YTD) returns currently stands down at 2.33%.

Highlights of the report:

Presco recorded the highest loss to lead the losers’ table, dropping by N4.95 to close at N44.90 per share.
Nigerian Breweries trailed with N4.50 to close at N40.50, while Stanbic IBTC dipped N3.60 to close at N32.50 per share.
Guaranty Trust Bank declined by N2.60 to close at N23.80, while MTN Nigeria was down by N2.10 to close at N110 per share.
On the other hand, Flour Mills led the gainers’ table with N1 to close at N22 while Vitafoam improved by 24kobo to close at N4.32 per share.

Sector Performance

NSE Banking Index: Was down by 1.38%, as a result of the declines in NPFMCRFBK (-6.25%), ETI (-4.00%), ACCESS (-2.78%), GUARANTY (-2.22%) and UBA (-2.10%).
NSE Consumer Goods Index: Fell by 0.89%, due to the losses in FLOUR MILLS (-8.70%), HONEYFLOUR (-4.76%) and NB (-2.17%).
NSE Oil & Gas Index: Lost 0.56%, due to fall in OANDO (-5.66%).
NSE Industrial Index: Closed flat.

Analysts at Investment One maintained that investors should take positions in quality names with a medium to long time investment horizon as prices remain attractive at current levels.

The World Health Organisation and the other foreign bodies have expressed concerns that Nigeria and other African nations may not be able to tackle the outbreak. The economies of Sub Saharan Africa are also projected to lose up to $4 billion worth of exports with China.

World markets wipe off $5 trillion in total value

On Friday, reports have it that the world share markets wiped out $5 trillion in total value as stocks experienced the worst crash since the 2008 global financial crisis.