By Dipo Olowookere
The domestic stock exchange depreciated by 0.20 per cent about 24 hours after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced a 0.5 per cent hike in the benchmark interest rate to 18.5 per cent.
It was observed that the bears disrupted the winning streak of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Thursday as investors chewed the increase in the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) and the decline in the gross domestic product (GDP) to 2.31 per cent in the first quarter of 2023.
This pullback squeezed 106.00 points from the All-Share Index (ASI) to 52,821.60 points from 52,927.60 points, as the market capitalisation went down by N57 billion to N28.762 trillion from N28.819 trillion.
Business Post reports that the energy index appreciated during the session by 0.23 per cent, though it was not enough to keep the bourse floating above the danger zone.
This was because the losses posted by the other sectors sank the exchange at the close of transactions, with the consumer goods space losing 0.14 per cent.
The banking counter decreased by 0.11 per cent, the insurance sector shrank by 0.08 per cent, and the industrial goods index closed lower by 0.07 per cent.
Investor sentiment was slightly weak yesterday as there were 23 price losers and 22 price gainers, indicating a negative market breadth.
Conoil suffered the heaviest loss as its value went down by 9.92 per cent to N43.60, Unilever Nigeria declined by 8.28 per cent to N14.40, Eterna fell by 6.21 per cent to N6.80, PZ Cussons shed 6.11 per cent to N16.90, and Japaul dwindled by 5.71 per cent to 33 Kobo.
The biggest price growth was recorded by FTN Cocoa, which gained 8.77 per cent to trade at 62 Kobo, Tantalizers rose by 8.33 per cent to 26 Kobo, Coronation Insurance improved by 7.14 per cent to 45 Kobo, Total Energies expanded by 6.87 per cent to N249.00, and RT Briscoe moved up by 5.88 per cent to 36 Kobo.
Business Post reports that the activity chart was mixed on Thursday as investors transacted 377.1 million shares worth N9.2 billion in 5,879 deals during the trading day compared with the 455.2 million shares worth N7.8 billion traded in 6,635 deals on Wednesday, indicating an increase in the trading value by 17.95 per cent, a decline in the trading volume and the number of deals by 17.16 per cent and 11.39 per cent, respectively.
UBA closed the session as the busiest stock after it traded 86.2 million units valued at N745.9 million, Access Holdings exchanged 67.4 million units worth N737.2 million, Zenith Bank traded 39.4 million units valued at N1.1 billion, GTCO transacted 31.0 million units worth N836.0 million, and Geregu Power sold 13.1 million units for N3.9 billion.
