• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Market rout persists as investors brace up ahead of MPC

Stock market opens 2023 on a positive note

Nigeria’s equities market witnessed another session on negative close on Thursday as investors remain cautious in anticipation of the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting next week.

The market decreased by 0.47percent or N125billion at the close of trading, while its record positive return year-to-date (YtD) decreased to +15.16percent.

The record negative close was caused among others by stocks like Guinness Nigeria, BUA Cement, and Cadbury.

Cadbury decreased from N13 to N11.75, down N1.25 or 9.62percent. BUA Cement was also down, from N53.40 to N50.10, losing N3.30 or 6.18 percent. Guinness Nigeria dipped from N87.90 to N83, down by N4.90 or 5.57percent.

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The stock market’s performance indicators – All-Share Index (ASI) and capitalisation – decreased further from preceding trading day’s highs of 49,421.91points and N26.657trillion respectively to 49,190.34points and N26.532trillion.

“Looking ahead to the rest of the week, we see room for sustained bargain-hunting as investors will continue to cherry-pick stocks with strong fundamentals, also taking advantage of the depressed market prices to secure attractive entry positions,” said research analysts at Lagos-based United Capital.

However, they restated that the local bourse will remain lull and broadly bearish “as the prospect of even higher interest rates and the depressed exchange rate weigh on investor sentiments in the medium term.”

NGX Group, Zenith Bank, Fidelity Bank, FBN Holdings and Access Holdings were top-5 traded stocks on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).
In 3,117 deals, investors exchanged N126,843,083 shares valued at N1.781billion.