Stocks in Nigeria rose by N6 billion on Tuesday, as the apex bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) maintained the status quo on interest rates and other parameters.
At its first meeting of the year, the MPC voted unanimously to maintain the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 11.5 per cent.
The Committee also voted to maintain the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) at 27.5%, the Liquidity Ratio at 30%, and the Asymmetric Corridor around the MPR of +100bps/-700bps.
On the stock market, the All-Share Index (ASI) advanced 11.24 points or 0.02 per cent to close at 45,939.51, up from 45,928.27 on Monday.
Similarly, market capitalisation gained N6 billion to close at N24.755 trillion as compared to N24.749 trillion on Monday.
Gains were recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, such as 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.”
The market sentiment was positive as measured by market breadth, with 20 gainers versus 15 losers.
The gainers’ chart in percentage terms was driven by Courteville Business Solutions, which closed at 55k per share.
ETI rose by 9.94% to close at N9.95 while Academy Press gained 9.72% to close at 79k per share.
Champion Breweries rose by 8.05 per cent to close at N2.55, while Regency Alliance Insurance rose by 5.26 per cent to close at $40,000.
In contrast, C & I Leasing led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 10 per cent to close at N3.78 per share.
Prestige Assurance closed with a 9.80 per cent gain to close at 46k, while Cornerstone Insurance shed 3.77 per cent to close at 51k.
Mutual Benefits Assurance lost 3.70 per cent to close at 26k, while UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust lost 3.45 per cent to close at N1.12 per share.
The total traded volume decreased by 11.10 per cent to 247.694 million units worth N3.58 billion in 4,242 transactions.
In comparison, 288.51 million shares worth N2.89 billion changed hands in 4,447 transactions on Monday.
24.52 million shares of Guaranty Trust Holding Company traded at N625.35 million, topping the activity chart.
Courteville Business Solutions traded 21.43 million shares worth N11.76 million, while Transcorp traded 20.44 million shares worth N21.65 million.
Zenith Bank traded 17.32 million shares worth N440.52 million, while Chams transacted 16.56 million shares worth N3.33 million.
