Stock market falls further by 0.11% in early trading on Tuesday

Nigeria’s stock market has continued its negative trend, down by 0.11percent as of noon on Tuesday as investors failed to resume bargaining activities after a recent dip.

The market had dipped on Monday by 3.15percent or N1.82trillion (the highest daily decline this year), pushing many value stocks to new low.

This bear run, which continued on Tuesday after Monday’s huge dip in the market, happened as analysts asked investors to tread cautiously.

Futureview Research said, “We anticipate a cautious approach in the trading session. We advise investors to invest in high-quality stocks with strong fundamentals backing them.”

The market’s benchmark performance index reached a low of 102,276.75 points in early trading on Tuesday from the preceding day’s 102,393.23 points.

Nigeria’s stock market fell massively on Monday, the first trading day of this week, as investors sold shares of largely capitalised companies like Dangote Cement Plc and MTNN.

“We foresee activities in the fixed income market to stand as key demotivator for equities investments this week. The uncertainty and overall market expectation of a hike in the MPC’s next meeting (to be held on February 26 and 27, 2024) may underpin a cautious investment approach towards risky assets.

“Given the tremendous value that still exists in the equities market, on the back of currently undervalued stocks, particularly the banking stocks (which are currently trading beyond the oversold region), we still expect background bargain hunting activities, albeit overshadowed by the short-term negative sentiment, pending the release of FY-2023 financial results and corporate actions from top-tier banks, and other corporates,” according to Lagos-based United Capital Research.