Stock Market Down 0.01% as Investors Await CBN Decision on Interest Rate

The downfall of the stock market occurred as investors embarked on cautious trading as they await the outcome of the MPC meeting on interest rate and others on Tuesday.

The Governor of the CBN, Mr Yemi Cardoso, will update investors and other stakeholders of the decisions of the group, though analysts believe the rates will likely be left unchanged again because of the moderation in inflation rate in April 2025 to 23.71 per cent.

At Customs Street yesterday, profit-taking dominated, resulting in the All-Share Index (ASI) losing 12.31 points to 109,697.83 points from 109,710.14 points and the market capitalisation shedding N8 billion to settle at N68.945 trillion compared with the previous session’s N68.953 trillion.

The bears found a home at the banking space during the trading session, crippling its index by 0.74 per cent at the close of business activities.

However, the other sectors closed green, with the consumer goods space rising by 1.55 per cent, the insurance space growing by 0.56 per cent, the energy counter expanding by 0.19 per cent, the industrial goods index going up by 0.17 per cent, and the commodity sector increasing by 0.13 per cent.

The bourse finished with 46 appreciating equities and 23 depreciating equities, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.

Tantalizers and Ikeja Hotel gained 10.00 per cent each to trade at N2.53 and N15.40 apiece, Beta Glass advanced by 9.98 per cent to N258.50, Champion Breweries improved by 9.97 per cent to N7.50, and Northern Nigeria Flour Mills also jumped by 9.97 per cent to N131.85.

On the flip side, The Initiates fell by 10.00 per cent to N6.12, ABC Transport deflated by 9.83 per cent to N2.66, University Press crashed by 9.77 per cent to N3.97, FTN Cocoa tumbled by 9.65 per cent to N2.34, and RT Briscoe depreciated by 9.52 per cent to N1.90.

During the session, investors transacted 486.1 million shares valued at N11.4 billion in 24,883 deals compared with the 428.8 million shares worth N8.5 billion exchanged in 16,338 deals last Friday, implying a rise in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 13.36 per cent, 34.12 per cent, and 52.30 per cent, respectively.

Access Holdings was the most active stock on Monday with a turnover of 45.1 million units valued at N1.1 billion, Fidelity Bank sold 39.4 million units for N799.7 million, GTCO transacted 32.4 million units worth N2.2 billion, Cutix exchanged 24.1 million units for N67.0 million, and UBA traded 20.6 million units valued at N716.7 million.