Investors end January in red as market capitalization dips     

January 2019, was not a rosy month for investors on the Nigerian Stock Market as investors had a bitter taste of Nigeria’s volatile stock market, losing a total of N326 billion at the end of the last day of trading at the stock exchange on Thursday.

According to findings by National Daily, the equities market opened the year on a negative note as investors lost N134.4bn at the close of trading on the first trading day of the year, plunging to its lowest level in more than one and a half years on January 9 as the market capitalisation of equities listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange fell below the N11tn mark from N11.72tn on December 31, 2018.

The market capitalisation dipped to N10.940tn, the lowest since June 5, 2017, while the NSE All Share Index fell below the 30,000 basis points mark to 29,336.80 bps.

To compound the losses, market capitalisation dropped by 1.89 per cent to N11.394tn on Thursday from N11.614tn the previous day while the ASI fell to 30,557.20 bps from 31,145.34 bps.

Prices of thirty-two stocks depreciated recorded at the close of trading, while 10 emerged gainers.

Red Star Express Plc led the losers gain, shedding 9.09 percent to close at N5, while First Aluminium Nigeria Plc, Niger Insurance Plc, Honeywell Flour Mill Plc and Julius Berger Nigeria Plc lost 8.57 per cent, 8.33 per cent, 7.69 per cent and 7.14 per cent respectively to close at N0.32, N0.22, N1.20 and N26 per share.

Sunu Assurances Nigeria Plc, McNichols Consolidated Plc, Learn Africa Plc, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc and Wema Bank led the gainers table as they rose by 10 per cent, 10 per cent, 8.73 per cent, 6.67 per cent and 4.84 per cent respectively to close at N0.22, N0.33, N1.37, N4.80 and N0.65 per share.

All the five sector indices closed negative – banking (-2.54 per cent), consumer goods (-1.71 per cent), oil and gas (-0.39 per cent), Industrial (-0.97 per cent), and insurance (-1.43 per cent).