Equity Market Grows N79bn Ahead of CBN Rate Decision Announcement

By Dipo Olowookere

The first trading session of the week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended with a 0.14 per cent rise on Monday ahead of the announcement of the interest rate decision by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Tuesday.

The MPC meeting of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) commenced yesterday in Abuja, with analysts anticipating a rate cut due to the moderation in the inflation rate for two straight months.

At the equity market on Monday, investors gained N79 billion after the market capitalisation of the bourse finished for the session at N56.536 trillion compared with last Friday’s N56.457 trillion.

Also, the All-Share Index (ASI) of the NGX increased at the close of transactions by 138.61 points to settle at 98,386.60 points, in contrast to the preceding session’s 98,247.99 points.

Business Post reports that the slim victory of the bulls over the bears was due to bargain-hunting in the banking and consumer goods sectors, which closed higher by 0.95 per cent and 0.24 per cent, respectively.

The insurance counter went down by 0.37 per cent, the energy index depreciated by 0.09 per cent, and the industrial goods space weakened by 0.07 per cent as a result of profit-taking activities.

It was observed that investor sentiment was bullish from the buying pressure, with a positive market breadth index after the exchange finished with 32 price gainers and 20 price losers.

McNichols and FCMB topped the gainers’ group after chalking up 10.00 per cent each to sell at N1.87 and N8.80 apiece, Fidelity Bank gained 9.93 per cent to end at N14.95, Tantalizers grew by 9.84 per cent to 67 Kobo, and Flour Mills rose by 9.81 per cent to N55.40.

Conversely, Berger Paints lost 9.83 per cent to quote at N21.10, DAAR Communications depleted by 9.33 per cent to 68 Kobo, Deap Capital shed 9.09 per cent to trade at 90 Kobo, Secure Electronic Technology tumbled by 7.46 per cent to 62 Kobo, and Honeywell Flour slipped by 5.12 per cent to N4.63.

Yesterday, investors transacted 810.4 million equities valued at N8.3 billion in 10,669 deals compared with the 554.2 million equities worth N10.1 billion traded in 8,670 deals in the previous trading day, indicating a decline in the trading value by 17.82 per cent, and a jump in the trading volume and number of deals by 46.23 per cent and 23.06 per cent, respectively.

Mecure Industries was the most active stock during the session with 400.1 million units worth N2.8 billion, Transcorp traded 66.8 million units valued at N726.8 million, Fidelity Bank exchanged 43.1 million units valued at N640.0 million, Access Holdings sold 25.1 million units worth N474.3 million, and NPF Microfinance Bank traded 24.6 million units valued at N45.1 million.