It’s Time to Go on a Stocks Shopping Spree at the NSE

A look at the NSE shows that stock prices have plummeted by more than 20 percent, investment experts saying they can now buy some shares they never thought they’d be able to buy so cheaply.

As of Friday, 16th March 2020, the market had officially slipped into bear-market territory, where the NSE 20 index prices fell by 20 percent from recent highs.

In the week ended where the first positive case of coronavirus was announced by the government, investors at the NSE went into panic mode as investors stayed away from buying stocks for fear of prices falling further.

This forced the NSE to suspend trading activities for the day after most of the listed companies fell in the red.

So, what should investors do?

It may be time to go on a shopping spree. While fear may be the prevailing sentiment in the market today, times like these present lucrative opportunities for investors willing to be “greedy while others are fearful,”.

Analysts from all over the world are of the opinion that there is a chance that we haven’t yet reached the bottom of this market downturn.

Therefore, trying to time the market when the prices of stocks is at the lowest, is a fool’s errand. It is nearly impossible to know when fear will subside and be replaced with greed. There are simply too many dynamics at play, including unpredictable factors like human emotion and herd-like behavior.

With this backdrop in mind, there are high-quality stocks whose shares have plummeted in recent weeks, giving investors compelling buying opportunities.

These high-quality stocks have business balance sheets to weather economic challenges and look poised to thrive over the long haul.

Such is the case as is with the large-cap stocks at the NSE.

Large cap stocks such as Safaricom have seen prices drop by each passing day. At the end of trading hours on Friday, the share price for Safaricom had dropped by 5.44 percent to 24.35 shillings per share as investors engaged in flight mode.

Other large cap stocks that have recorded drops in prices include Co-operative Bank, Equity Group, KCB Group, ABSA, etc.

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