Stock investors lost N492bn in Q4 2019

Investors in the nation’s stock market counted losses worth N492bn in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The quarter opened at a market capitalisation value of N13.450tn and closed at N12.958tn.

In the month of October 2019, the stock market shed N620bn as the market capitalisation declined from N13.450tn to N12.830tn.

However, the month of November saw a rebound as gains totalling N203bn were recorded.

The gains were short-lived as the market slid back into its losing streak, shedding N75bn in December as the market capitalisation dropped from N13.033tn to N12.958tn.

Investors, however, recorded N362bn gain in the last three trading days of the year as the stock market ended the year with a positive performance.

The market capitalisation of equities listed on the NSE increased from N12.595tn on Tuesday last week to NN12.753tn on Friday.

The gaining streak was sustained on Monday as the market capitalisation increased further to N12.846tn and the N12.958tn which it closed on Tuesday.

The All Share Index increased by 87 basis points on the last day of trading in 2019.

Analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited said the equities market posted a bullish performance as buying interest in Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc and Lafarge Africa Plc pulled the ASI higher to close at 26,842.07 points.

They said they believed the positive performance was partly driven by portfolio rebalancing activities by asset and portfolio managers.

Consequently, the year-to-date return moderated to -14.6 per cent while market capitalisation increased by N112.4bn.