Investors on Wednesday sold mostly the shares of Unilever Nigeria Plc, Cadbury, Multiverse Mining and Exploration, and Champion Breweries as market started getting hit by higher monetary policy rate.
Rising from its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Tuesday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) raised its benchmark interest rate known as the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 25 basis points to 18.75 percent.
The Monetary Policy Committee left the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) unchanged at 32.5 percent and the liquidity ratio at 30 percent. The asymmetric corridor was narrowed from +100/-700 basis points to +100/-300 basis points.
The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index and equities market capitalisation on Wednesday recorded first decrease this week (-0.46percent or N185billion).
The market’s benchmark performance indicators moved down from preceding day’s highs of 65,991 points and N35.930trillion respectively to 65,687.16 points and N35.745trillion.
Read also: Here’s how hikes in MPR affect your finances
UBA, Access Corporation, Universal Insurance, FBN Holdings and Zenith Bank were most traded stocks as investors in 7,345 deals exchanged 500,430,016 shares valued at N7.143billion.
Cadbury was down from N17 to N15.30, after losing N1.70 or 10percent of its day-open price, followed by Unilever which dropped from N17.50 to N15.75, down by N1.75 or 10percent. Multiverse Mining and Exploration decreased from N3.01 to N2.71, losing 30kobo or 9.97percent, while Champion Breweries moved down from N3.76 to N3.48, shedding 28kobo or 7.45percent.
