Coronavirus: Panic mood on NSE, market capitalisation loses N308bn

Trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday ended on panic mood, as the country recorded the first Coronavirus case after Egypt and Algeria.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the panic mood affected trading on the exchange with the market recording only two gainers against 41 losers.

Consequently, the market capitalisation lost N308 billion, representing a loss of 2.21 per cent in about six hours to close at N13.657 trillion against N13.965 trillion on Thursday.



Also, the All-Share Index which opened at 26,808.24 shed 591.78 points or 2.21 per cent to close at 26,216.46.

Commenting on the development, Mr Ambrose Omordion, Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd., said the Coronavirus news heightened the negative sentiment already in the market.

Omordion stated that the news further affected the performances of the domestic equities which had been battling with liquidity issue.

“The news of coronavirus entering the country has further dampened investors confidence in the stock market as reflected in the global markets that are bleeding badly as a result of selloffs.

“There is already fear of global recession due to the virus,” he said.