Local Equities Manage 0.01% Growth to Open Week Positive

By Dipo Olowookere

Equities at the local exchange managed a marginal growth of 0.01 per cent on Monday as some investors embarked on cautious trading.

Yesterday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) commenced its 2-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja and traders are waiting for the outcome of the deliberations on Tuesday.

At the previous MPC gathering, the benchmark interest rate was left at 12.5 per cent but this time, investors are not sure what will happen, though analysts have said the rates will not be changed.

The CBN recently asked commercial banks to offer interest on savings deposit at 1.25 per cent per annum and the treasury bills stop rates have remained very low, almost nearing below one per cent.

With all these, it was not surprising that investors were treading carefully and were not too eager to mop up stocks at the market, especially when some of them are currently at their resistance level.

At the close of transactions, a total of 196.1 million shares worth N1.7 billion exchanged hands in 3,542 deals compared with the previous session’s 125.9 million shares worth N1.3 billion traded in 2,295 deals.

Presco was the highest price gainer during the session, rising by 90 kobo to close at N49.90 per share, while UAC Nigeria followed with a price appreciation of 35 kobo to finish at N6.40 per unit.

International Breweries grew by 10 kobo to sell for N3.40 per share, MTN Nigeria appreciated by 10 kobo to settle at N120.10 per unit, while GTBank garnered 5 kobo to trade at N25.40 per share.

On the flip side, Julius Berger went down by 50 kobo to close at N15 per unit, leading the losers’ table at the close of business.

Red Star Express fell by 30 kobo to end at N2.96 per share, Flour Mills depreciated by 15 kobo to settle at N19.65 per share, Champion Breweries declined by 9 kobo to quote at 81 kobo per unit, while Access Bank slipped by 5 kobo to close at N6.40 per unit.

For another trading session, FBN Holdings finished as the most active stock, trading 43.4 million units valued at N214.5 million and was followed by Chams, which sold 26.2 million units valued at N5.3 million.

UBA traded 13.2 million shares for N79.1 million, Mutual Benefits Assurance exchanged 12.2 million equities worth N2.5 million, while Zenith Bank traded 11.7 million stocks for N195.1 million.

Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) slightly increased by 1.78 points on Monday to 25,574.35 points from 25,572.57 points, while the market capitalisation moved up by N1 billion to N13.366 trillion from N13.365 trillion.