Market drops further by 0.48% as investors sell FBN Holdings, others

Nigeria’s equities market continued its negative movement on Tuesday by 0.48 percent or N269billion, pushing lower its return this year to 31.37 percent.

More investors sold the shares of FBN Holdings Plc which decreased most from N28.25 to N25.45, down by N2.80 or 9.91 percent while Champion Breweries, another major laggard decreased from N3.68 to N3.32, down by 36kobo or 9.78percent.

The NGX All Share Index (ASI) closed further south from 98,703.68 points to 98,228.5 points while the market capitalisation dropped further from N55.823trillion to N55.554 trillion.

Lagos-base Vetiva analysts had ahead of Tuesday’s trading said the market breadth suggests that the market is optimistic despite the red close.

Though they had expected the market to close on a positive note on Tuesday, given that key names continue to retain buy-side interest from investors, they did not rule out profit taking in counters that have seen upside in recent sessions.

UBA, Access Corporation, Transcorp, Japaul Gold and AIICO were actively traded stocks as investors in 9,620 deals on Tuesday exchanged 425,664,285 shares worth N8.348billion.

ABC Transport announces final dividend

ABC Transport Plc has announced final dividend of 0.025kobo per ordinary share for the year ended December 31, 2023.

The dividend, which is subject to appropriate withholding tax and approval will be paid to shareholders whose names appear in the Register of Members as at the close of business on May 24, 2024.

The Register of shareholders of ABC Transport will be closed starting May 27, 2024 to May 29, 2024.

Savings bond offer for May

The Debt Management Office (DMO) on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria has announced the May edition of the FGN Savings Bond with an interest rate of 17.407percent for 2 years and 18.407percent for 3 years.

Treasury Bills auction

Also, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) holds a Treasury Bills (T-Bills) Primary Market Auction (PMA) on Wednesday May 8, 2024.

At the PMA, existing T-Bills totalling N179.36billion (N39.90billion, N5.44billion and N134.02billion across the 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day instruments, respectively) will mature and be rolled over.