Equities market down by N16.06bn over investors profit-taking in GTBank, 16 other stocks
Transactions on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) equities market ended on a bearish note, extending the trading losses to seven consecutive sessions, due to sustained profit-taking in Guaranty Trust Bank and 16 others.
Meanwhile, at the end of the two-day policy meeting, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) voted to hold all policy variables at current levels.
Specifically, the committee decided to; retain Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 11.5 per cent; maintain the asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +100/-700bps; retain the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 27.5 per cent; and retain liquidity ratio at 30.0 per cent.
In summary, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 30.82 basis points, representing a dip of 0.08 per cent to close at 38,256.76 basis points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value shed N16 billion to close at N19.940 trillion.
Sector performance tilted towards the red zone on Tuesday with Banking (-0.47per cent) sector down, while Consumer Goods (+0.02per cent) ticked upwards. The Oil and Gas, and Industrial sectors closed flat.
The market downturn was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Guaranty Trust Bank, Champion Breweries, Lasaco Assurance, FBN Holdings (FBNH) and AIICO Insurance.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said that “With the CBN’s retention of all monetary policy parameters at the just concluded MPC meeting, we expect to see some bargain hunting on fundamentally viable stocks in the next trading session.”
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative as 17 stocks lost, relative to 12 gainers. C&I Leasing recorded the highest price gain of 9.85 per cent to close at N4.46, per share. Royal Exchange followed with a gain 8.82 per cent to close at 74 kobo, while Consolidated Hallmark Insurance went up by 7.27 per cent to close at 59 kobo, per share.
Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals rose by 7.02 per cent to close at N1.83, while The Initiates gained 6.82 per cent to close at 47 kobo, per share. On the other hand, Lasaco Assurances led the losers’ chart by 7.14 per cent to close at N1.43, per share. Champion Breweries followed with a decline of 5.66 per cent to close at N2.00, while AIICO Insurance lost 4.96 per cent to close at N1.15, per share.
Chams lost 4.76 per cent to close at 20 kobo, while AXA Mansard Insurance shed 4.44 per cent to close at 86 kobo, per share.
The total volume of trades increased by 77.3 per cent to 250.204 million units, valued at N1.552 billion and exchanged in 3,534 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Courteville Business Solutions topped the activity chart with 36.851 million shares valued at N7.472 million. Zenith Bank followed with 28.188 million shares worth N649.411 million, while Jaiz Bank traded 25.852 million shares valued at N14.831 million.
Chams traded 16.098 million shares valued at N3.220 million, while Sterling Bank transacted 13.677 million shares worth N21.813 million.
According to analysts at Investment One research, “The equities market closed down today due to the losses recorded in the Banking sector.
“Going forward, we expect investor’s sentiments to be swayed by the search for real positive returns and developments in the interest rate space.
“We reiterate that this may be a great period to pick up some quality names with a medium to long-term investment horizon.”
