By Joy Baba-Yesufu
Nigeria’s equities market furthered its downward movement on Thursday as sell-side pressure continues on the Bourse. The market decreased by N118billion or 0.21 percent at the close of trading.
The market which saw pockets of demand in select names however closed in red as investors reacted to companies’ half-year (H1) scorecards. This is in addition to recent hike in benchmark interest rate which further makes equities less attractive than fixed-income instruments.
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of Nigeria’s Central Bank recently raised the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), also known as the benchmark interest rate, to 26.75 percent from 26.25 percent which further makes equities less attractive than fixed-income instruments. The Central Bank of Nigeria further ramped up tightening measures to rein in inflation.
FCMB Group decreased the most, from N8 to N7.30, down by 70 kobo or 8.75 percent while Cutix followed after its share price dropped from N5.89 to N5.33, losing 56 kobo or 9.51 percent.
Oando rallied most, from N17.95 to N18.50, up by 55kobo or 3.06 percent, followed by United Capital which moved up from N 37 to N38, adding N1 or 2.70 percent.
The stock market further reacted negatively to the rate hike as the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index and Market Capitalisation decreased from preceding day’s highs of 100,365.17 points and N56.830trillion respectively to 100,156.96 points and N56.712trillion.
Tourist Company of Nigeria, Fidelity Bank, Zenith Bank, GTCO and Access Holdings shares were actively traded. In 8,198 deals, investors exchanged 1,339,599,940 shares worth N9.674billion.
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