NGX gains N6bn as MPC maintains status quo

The Nigerian stock market gained N6 billion on Tuesday, just as the apex bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) maintained status quo on benchmark interest rate and other parameters.

The MPC voted unanimously to maintain the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 11.5 per cent at its first meeting of the year.

Similarly, the Committee also voted to retain the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) at 27.5 per cent, liquidity ratio at 30.0 per cent and asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +100bps/-700bps.

At the stock market, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 11.24 points or 0.02 per cent to close at 45,939.51 against 45,928.27 posted on Monday.

Similarly, the overall market capitalisation size gained N6 billion to close at N24.755 trillion from N24.749 trillion achieved on Monday.

The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Seplat Energy, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), Champion Breweries, Nigerian Exchange (NGX) and Red Star Express.

Analysts at Cordros Securities Ltd stated: “Since the start of the year, the performance of the equities market has been broadly positive as the ASI returned 7.5 per cent as at Jan. 24.

“With domestic investors being the dominant players in the market, we believe the wave of sell-offs across global stocks will have a limited impact on the local bourse. As such, we expect sentiments to remain positive until yields begin to rise in the fixed income market.

“Consequently, we see scope for the market to sustain the positive performance in Q1, 2022, given investors’ positioning in dividend-paying stocks ahead of 2021 full year dividend declarations and bargain hunting activities in value stocks with sound fundamentals.”

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive with 20 gainers, relative to 15 losers.

Courteville Business Solutions drove the gainers’ chart in percentage terms by 10 per cent to close at 55k per share.

ETI followed with 9.94 per cent to close at N9.95, while Academy Press rose by 9.72 per cent to close at 79k per share.

Champion Breweries went up by 8.05 per cent to close at N2.55, while Regency Alliance Insurance appreciated by 5.26 per cent to close at 40k per share.

Conversely, C & I Leasing led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 10 per cent to close at N3.78 per share.

Prestige Assurance followed with 9.80 per cent to close at 46k, while Cornerstone Insurance shed 3.77 per cent to close at 51k per share.

Mutual Benefits Assurance lost 3.70 per cent to close at 26k, while UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust shed 3.45 per cent to close at N1.12 per share.

However, the total volume traded decreased by 11.10 per cent to 247.694 million units valued at N3.58 billion exchanged in 4,242 deals.

This was against a turnover of 278.61 million shares worth N2.89 billion traded in 4,447 deals on Monday.

Transactions in the shares of Guaranty Trust Holding Company topped the activity chart with 24.52 million shares valued at N625.35 million.

Courteville Business Solutions followed with 21.43 million shares worth N11.76 million, while Transcorp traded 20.44 million shares valued at N21.65 million.

Zenith Bank traded 17.32 million shares valued at N440.52 million, while Chams transacted 16.56 million shares worth N3.33 million.