Nigeria’s equities market opened the new week in red (-0.46percent) as counters like Industrial & Medical Gases Nigeria Plc (IMG), Skyway Aviation Handling Company Plc and Ellah Lakes Plc topped the league of laggards at the close of trading on Monday August 8. Investors booked about N126billion loss at the close of trading.
“We expect the impact of the increased benchmark lending rate on equity markets to continue to take effect, returning to a bear market. Investors are expected to continue cherry-picking stocks with solid underlying fundamentals,” said equity research analysts at Lagos-based United Capital Plc in their August 8 note to investors.
Read also: Naira up despite 10.95% drop in liquidity at official market
IMG dipped most by 90kobo or 9.84percent, from N9.15 to N8.25; followed by Skyway Aviation which dropped from N6.25 to N5.65, after shedding 60kobo or 9.60percent and Ellah Lakes which also dipped from N3.96 to N3.58, down by 38kobo or 9.60percent.
Caverton Offshore Support Group Plc also made the top decliners league after its share price dropped from a high of N1.17 to N1.09, shedding 8kobo or 6.84percent.
The record negative on Monday has lowered the market’s positive return year-to-date (YtD) to 18.20percent. The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation decreased from preceding trading day’s highs of 50,722.33 points and N27.358trillion respectively to 50,489.73 points and N27.232trillion. In 4,234 deals, investors exchanged 207,195,714 shares valued at N2.119billion.
