Dangote Cement, BUA Cement stocks cause market to sustain gain despite rate hike

Nigeria’s equities market closed in the positive region on Wednesday, the third time this week, despite Tuesday’s hike in Monetary Policy Rate (MPR). The market has increased this week by 3.91percent.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Tuesday decided to raise the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 100 basis points (bps) to 16.50percent in its final meeting of the year.

Despite the rate hike which was expected to fuel the bear reign, the stock market closed higher by 2.90 percent on Wednesday.

Investors booked about N710billion gain, thanks to Dangote Cement and BUA Cement stocks that pushed the market higher.

Dangote Cement led the gainers league after its share price moved up from N238.50 to N262.30, adding N23.80 or 9.98 percent, followed by BUA Cement which rose from N72 to N79, adding N7 or 9.72percent.

In 3,458 deals, investors exchanged 187,906,726 shares valued at N1.842billion. Livingtrust, Transcorp, Access Corporation, ETI and GTCO were top-5 traded stocks on the Nigerian Exchange Limited.

Read also: Stock market defies rate hike, gains N145bn

The stock market’s year-to-date (YtD) positive return moved higher to 8.23 percent.

At the close of trading on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), the market’s performance indicators All Share Index (ASI) and equities Market Capitalisation – rose from 44,929.33 points and N24.471trillion respectively to
46,232.37 points and N25.181trillion.

“Following the decision by the Monetary Policy Committee to raise the MPR by 100bps to 16.5percent, we anticipate a rise in yields in the Fixed Income market in the coming sessions. Therefore, we expect a negative reaction in the equity space,” United Capital research analysts said.

“For the equities, we expect the hike to further fuel the bear market as investors continue to favour fixed-income market, and shun equities,” United Capital research analysts said.