Investors profit-taking in MTN Nigeria, others down equities market

Sentiments on the domestic equities market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Tuesday turned negative with a marginal loss of 0.02 per cent following the conclusion of the two-day meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

The benchmark interest rate (MPR) was hiked to 14.00 per cent; asymmetric corridor remained at +100/-700 bps around the MPR; the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) was held at 27.50 per cent; and the Liquidity Ratio was retained at 30.00 per cent.

The All Share Index (ASI) decreased by 11.06 basis points, representing a dip of 0.02 per cent to close at 52,308.88 basis points. Similarly, the market capitalisation lost N6 billion to close at N28.208 trillion.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; MTN Nigeria, Unilever Nigeria, Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN), Multiverse Mining & Exploration and Academy Press.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment closed at par with 16 gainers and 16 losers.

R.T. Briscoe Nigeria recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent to close at 44 kobo per share. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria followed with a gain of 9.02 per cent to close at N6.65, while Cornerstone Insurance appreciated by 6.45 per cent to close at 66 kobo per share.

Courteville Business Solutions went up by 6.38 per cent to close at 50 kobo, while FTN Cocoa processors appreciated by 6.06 per cent to close at 35 kobo per share.

On the other hand, Multiverse Mining and Exploration led the losers’ chart by 9.50 per cent to close at N1.62 per share. Japaul Gold and Ventures followed with a decline of 7.41 per cent to close at 25 kobo, while Academy Press  went down by 7.00 to close at N1.86 per share.

Caverton Offshore Support Group lost 6.57 per cent to close at N1.28, while UACN Property Development Company (UPDC) shed 4.03 per cent to close at N1.19 per share.

The total volume traded increased by 76.9 per cent to 205.641 million units, valued at N2.787 billion and exchanged in 4,127 deals.

Transactions in the shares of United Bank for Africa (UBA) topped the activity chart with 74.276 million shares valued at N556.835 million. Access Holdings followed with 16.092 million shares worth N146.445 million, while AIICO Insurance traded 14.099 million shares valued at N8.895 million.

FBN Holdings traded 12.818 million shares valued at N140.498 million, while Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) transacted 8.883 million shares worth N190.492 million.