Sell-off in equities market as #EndSARS protests, curfew dampen investors’ appetite

Stocks on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) trended lower following sell-off on bellwether stocks as social unrest amid the curfew imposed in Lagos dampened investors’ sentiments.

At the close of trading yesterday, the all-share index (ASI) was down 0.75 percent– its biggest loss since October 7.

Investors took profits on MTNN down at -1.43 percent, WAPCO (-4.4%), GTBank (-1.32%), Zenith Bank (-1.19%) while the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date gains moderated at 5.99 percent.

Activity level, however, intensified as the total volume of trades increased by 9.8% to 326.58 million units, valued at N4.22 billion and exchanged in 4,367 deals. UBA was the most traded stock by volume at 40.30 million units, while GTBank was the most traded stock by value at N1.14 billion.

Across the NSE sub-indices, the insurance sector was the lone gainer at 0.57 percent, while banking, industrial, consumer goods, and oil & gas plummeted by 1.70 percent, 0.34 percent, 0.13 percent, 0.30 percent respectively.