Nigerian equities suffered their worst single-day decline in the past two months yesterday as the stock market reopened to massive selloffs across the sectors.
Benchmark indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) indicated average decline of 1.27 per cent yesterday, equivalent to net capital depreciation of N181 billion, the largest single-day decline since December 24, 2019.
With 32 decliners to five advancers, the market was overwhelmed by the bears, leaving all sectors in the red. Average year-to-date return dipped to 0.74 per cent while the market has lost an average of 6.25 per cent so far this month.
Market analysts said investors’ risk aversion was further stoked by feelers that the influential banking sector might be further subjected to increased regulatory headwinds due to the statements attributed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the Bankers’ Committee meeting last week.
The All Share Index (ASI)- the value-based common index that tracks all share prices at the Exchange, dropped by 347.59 points or 1.27 per cent to close at 27,041.03 points as against 27,388.62 points recorded as opening index.
Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also decline by the same margin from its opening value of N14.268 trillion to close at N14.087 trillion.
All sectoral indices closed negative. The NSE Banking Index declined by 4.78 per cent. The NSE Industrial Goods Index dropped by 0.85 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index dipped by 0.72 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index depreciated by 0.47 per cent while the NSE Oil and Gas Index dipped by 0.45 per cent.