Stock market opens week with N83bn loss

Nigeria’s equities market closed in the red zone on Monday, confirming some analysts expectations of a quiet start to new week.

The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation decreased by 0.29percent or N83billion on Monday to 52,944.65points and N28.542trillion respectively, from preceding trading day high of 53,098.46points and N28.625trillion.

“Given the sustained buy-side activity seen throughout last week, coupled with the possibility of the CBN raising rates at this week’s MPC meeting, we anticipate a quiet start to the week, as investors remain on the sidelines in anticipation of the Monetary Policy Decision before committing further to equities,” said analysts at Vetiva in their May 16 note to investors.

In 6,854 deals, investors exchanged 374,183,929 shares valued at N4.963billion. Transcorp, Jaiz Bank, Access Holdings, International Breweries and Ikeja Hotel were most traded stocks on the Nigerian Exchange Limited.

“We expect the market to close up this week,” said analysts at Lagos-based Meristem.

Read also: Stock market rises further by 0.15%

Lafarge Africa led other stocks that contributed to the market’s negative close after its share price moved down from preceding day high of
N31.40 to N28.80, losing N2.60 or 8.28percent, followed by International Breweries which dropped from N8.80 to N8, down by 80kobo or 9.09 percent.

Other top laggards are Champion Breweries which dipped from N4.37 to N3.94, down by 43kobo or 9.84percent and GSK which also dropped from N7.90 to N7.15, losing 75kobo or 9.49percent.

Also, United Capital research analysts in their May 16 note anticipate continued market interest in the domestic equities space, “as money managers will continue to cheery pick stocks with solid fundamentals, following the relatively quiet fixed income space.”

The record dip on Monday’s trading pushed lower market’s positive return to 23.94percent year-to-date (YtD).