INVESTORS lost N14.66 billion as trading week opened today on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).

This drove the total market value of stocks down to N29.901 trillion at the close of the day’s trading, as the All-Share Index (ASI) also fell by 0.05 per cent to 54,888.48 basis points (bps).

Relative to 14 companies’ stocks that dropped in value, however, 19 companies’ stock prices appreciated at the close of the trading session. The year-to-date (YtD) gain of the domestic stock market also rose to 7.10 per cent.

Specifically, some mid- and large capitalised stocks like Wapic Insurance, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Nigerian Breweries, Chemical and Allied Products, and Dangote Sugar Refinery’s share prices fell.

Wapic Insurance dropped by 9.052 per cent to close at 0.38k; Stanbic fell by 8.52 per cent to N36.50; Nigerian Breweries shed 3.14 per cent to N38.55; Chemical and Allied Products lost 1.04 per cent to N19.00; and Dangote Sugar Refinery also dropped by 0.54 per cent to close at N 18.40

On sectoral performance, the banking and industrial indices rose by 1.30 per cent and 0.06 per cent to 438.53bps and 2,553.50bps respectively.

The insurance and consumer goods indices fell by 0.47 per cent and 0.36 per cent to close at 174.81bps and 698.87bps respectively; while the oil/gas index remained unchanged from what it closed in last week’s trading session.

Trading activity was upbeat as total deals appreciated by 3.86 per cent to 3,066 deals; volume rose by 646.50 per cent to 1.17 billion and value increased by 83.83 per cent to N2.88.70bn, respectively.

Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals was the most active stock in terms of volume with 1.07 billion units of shares worth N1.58bn changing hands in 15 deals.

The ICIR can report that investors in the Nigerian capital market lost N479bn in the previous week of March 13-17 owing to the uncertainty in the political space that triggered panic sell-off of shares.