Nigeria’s stock market witnessed remarkable selloff on Monday as investors, in already bearish mood, reacted further to inflation rate that surged for eight straight month.
The market decreased by N655billion or 2.53percent, driven majorly by stocks like Airtel Africa Plc which dropped from a high of N1,800 to N1,620, losing N180 or 10 percent.
Other top decliners are Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc which decreased from preceding day high of
N16.05 to N15.60, losing 45kobo or 2.80percent, and Fidson Healthcare Plc which dropped from N9.17 to N8.94, losing 23kobo or 2.51percent.
The stock market’s All-Share Index (ASI) decreased to 46,365.95 points as against preceding day’s high of 47,569.04 points. Also, its Market Capitalisation decreased from N25.909trillion recorded last Friday to N25.254trillion on Monday.
Read also: Nigeria’s inflation rises for eighth straight month, hits 20.77%
The market’s positive return year-to-date (YtD) printed lower at +8.54 percent. In 3,234 deals, investors exchanged 137,983,398 shares valued at N4.316billion.
Nigeria’s inflation rate surged to 20.77 percent in September 2022, up from 20.52 percent recorded in the month of August.
“In our opinion, the mood in the local bourse is still largely bearish. The gain recorded in the market last week is attributable to buying interest on bellwether stocks such as
GTCO, Zenith Bank, and BUA Cement.
“We also note that inherent macroeconomic risks continue to keep investors off the equities market. Particularly, the inflation report …could trigger selloffs in the market.
“Furthermore, we consider the bond auction this week, which could further stifle system liquidity and cause a flow of funds from the equities market. Thus, we expect the market to close in the negative zone,” said Meristem research analysts.
