The absence of a positive trigger further battered the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.08 per cent on Monday.
Yesterday, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) commenced its two-day rate decision meeting in Abuja.
This afternoon, the market will be expecting to hear if there would be a further cut in the benchmark interest rate after a 0.50 per cent slash at its last meeting, which left the MPR at 27.0 per cent.
Throughout last week, Customs Street did not record a single gain and on the first trading day of this week, it ended in red amid sustained weak investor sentiment.
According to data from the bourse, 17 equities ended on the gainers’ chart and 26 equities finished on the losers’ table, indicating a negative market breadth index.
NPF Microfinance Bank shed 7.85 per cent to close at N2.70, Prestige Assurance declined by 7.48 per cent to N1.36, Sterling Holdings slumped by 6.94 per cent to N6.70, Coronation Insurance depreciated by 6.18 per cent to N2.43, and Deap Capital deflated by 5.59 per cent to N1.52.
However, eTranzact gained 9.06 per cent to end at N14.45, International Energy Insurance jumped by 8.49 per cent to N2.30, McNichols expanded by 7.00 per cent to N2.75, C&I Leasing improved by 5.47 per cent to N5.59, and UPDC advanced by 5.26 per cent to N6.00.
At the market yesterday, traders traded 694.8 million shares valued at N28.7 billion in 24,041 deals compared with the 656.9 million shares worth N25.6 billion transacted in 18,842 deals last Friday, showing an improvement in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 5.77 per cent, 12.11 per cent, and 27.59 per cent, respectively.
GTCO topped the activity log with 203.9 million units sold for N17.2 billion, Fidelity Bank traded 131.5 million units worth N2.5 billion, Japaul exchanged 68.8 million units valued at N145.9 million, FCMB transacted 38.0 million units for N386.7 million, and Access Holdings traded 21.9 million units valued at N449.5 million.
During the session, the All-Share Index (ASI) was down by 108.01 points to 143,614.61 points from 143,722.62 points and the market capitalisation lost N69 billion to finish at N91.346 trillion compared with the previous session’s N91.415 trillion.
Business Post observed that the trio of commodity, industrial goods, and the energy indices were flat on Monday, while the insurance counter lost 0.79 per cent, the banking space declined by 0.27 per cent, and the consumer goods sector diminished by 0.02 per cent.