Equities market opens week in red

Nigeria’s stock market opened the week on a negative note, decreasing by 0.15 percent on Monday while equities value dropped by N8billion at the close of trading.

The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and equities market capitalisation decreased from preceding day’s 105,955.13 points and N66.351 trillion to 105,799.17 points and N66.343trillion.

The market’s return year-to-date (YtD) dropped to 2.79 percent.

“We are cautiously optimistic that bargain hunters will emerge in tomorrow’s (Tuesday) session, which may lead to a mild recovery, however, we cannot rule out the possibility of sustained selling pressure keeping the market subdued,” Vetiva research analysts said in their post-trade commentary.

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The stock market recorded negative close as more investors sold mostly insurance and other penny stocks despite earlier expectations that investors will this week hunt for value in many low-priced counters.

“Looking forward, the equities market is expected to improve as investors react to the February 2025 inflation report and position themselves ahead of the FY-2024 earnings season and possible corporate action declarations. Nevertheless, given the elevated interest rate environment in the fixed-income market, we still expect bearish sentiments to linger in the background,” United Capital research analysts said.

Nigeria’s annual inflation eased for the second consecutive month, fuelling optimism that price pressures have peaked and will continue to moderate.

Inflation rate moderated to 23.2 percent in February from 24.5percent in January, according to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.

Etranzact, Sunu Assurances, Prestige Assurance, Sovereign Trust Insurance and Red Star Express were the market’s major decliners on Monday.

Etranzact decreased from N6.50 to N5.85, losing 65kobo or 10percent. Sunu Assurances also moved down from N5.14 to N4.63, losing 51kobo or 9.92percent. Prestige Assurance also went down, from N1.09 to N1, losing 9kobo or 8.26 percent. Sovereign Trust share price was down from N1.03 to 95kobo, losing 8kobo or 7.77percent, while Red Star Express dipped from N5.80 to N5.35, down by 45kobo or 7.76percent.

In 13,520 deals, investors exchanged 477,512,939 shares worth N7.049billion. Jaiz Bank, Zenith Bank, Sovereign Trust Insurance, Prestige Assurance and Fidelity Bank shares were actively traded.