The hike in interest rates impacted negatively on the domestic equities market yesterday market capitalisation declined by N46 billion, amid sell pressure in 27 stocks with a decline of N46 billion.
The MPC of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the end of its 296th bi-monthly policy meeting yesterday, raised the benchmark policy rate (MPR) by 50bps to 26.75 per cent, marking the fourth increase in 2024.
The all-share index (ASI) lost 82.48 points, representing a decline of 0.08 per cent to close at 100,486.12 points. Also, market capitalisation declined by N46 billion to close at N56.899 trillion.
The downturn was driven by price depreciation in large and medium-capitalised stocks amongst which are; Zenith Bank, Custodian Investment, Vitafoam Nigeria, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and John Holts.
Analysts at SCM Capital said: “This week, we expect mixed sentiment t o continue to dominate the market as investors remain on the sidelines with sight on attractive yield in the fixed income market amidst the increase in MPR.
“However, we may see some bargain hunting in stocks with strong fundamentals as investors are likely to take positions ahead of H1-2024 earnings release and interim dividend expectations.”
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative, as 14 stocks gained relative to 27 losers. Ikeja Hotels emerged as the highest price gainer of 7.58 per cent to close at N7.10 kobo.
Linkage Assurance followed with a gain of 6.90 per cent to close at 93 kobo, while Caverton Offshore Support Group rose by 5.00 per cent to close at N1.47 kobo. Sovereign Trust Insurance increased by 4.17 per cent to close at 50 kobo, while Consolidated Hallmark Holdings added 2.96 per cent to close at N1.39 kobo.
On the other side, University Press led the losers’ chart with 9.92 per cent to close at N2.27, per share. John Holts followed with a decline of 9.87 per cent to close at N2.83 kobo while Omatek Ventures shed 9.46 per cent to close at 67 kobo.
Deap Capital Management and Trust depreciated by 8.93 per cent to close at 51 kobo, while Secure Electronic Technology dipped by 7.02 per cent to close at 53 kobo.
The total volume traded decreased by 44.41 per cent to 280.922 million units, valued at N3.626 billion, and exchanged in 8,403 deals.Transactions in the shares of Veritas Kapital Assurance led the activity with 22.505 million shares worth N23.026 million. United Capital followed with an account of 20.854 million shares valued at N817.098 million, while Jaiz Bank traded 20.784 million shares valued at N45.110 million.
Access Holdings traded 20.4 million shares worth N394.316 million, while Prestige Assurance traded 16.812 million shares worth N8.586 million.
