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The Nigerian stock market rerouted north on Wednesday, May 25 by 1.24percent, recouping about N346billion from Tuesday’s loss of N519billion.
This was mainly driven by remarkable rise in the share price of Airtel Africa Plc which moved up by N138 or 9.39percent, from preceding day low of N1470 to N1608.
Only ten (10) equities advanced in price as against 42 decliners. The market was able to halt early week’s record bearish run following announcement of Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) hawkish approach on Tuesday.
“With the Monetary Policy rate hike and profit taking activities, the market closed today’s (Wednesday) session with sell-offs across all sectors except for the telecoms sector, where demand in the dual-listed stock Airtel Africa improved market performance. We are likely to see another bearish close as negative sentiments filter into tomorrow’s (Thursday) trading session,” analysts at Lagos-based Vetiva Capital Management said in their Wednesday note to investors.
Read also: MTN, Airtel’s jostle for 40m unbanked Nigerians intensifies
The market’s benchmark performance indicators – the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation increased from 51,949.64 points and N28.006trillion respectively to 52,591.41 points and N28.352trillion. The stock market’s positive return year-to-date (YtD) increased to 23.12percent.
Also on the top advancers list is Royal Exchange Plc which increased from N1.10 to N1.14, after adding 4kobo or 3.64percent. The market gained despite major laggards like PZ Cussons Plc which decreased most from N12.60 to N11.35, losing N1.25 or 9.92percent; and NEM Insurance which rose from N4 to N3.63, after adding 37kobo or 9.25percent.
Shares of UACN, UBA, Access Holdings, FBN Holdings and Transcorp were actively traded on the Nigerian Exchange on Wednesday, May 25. In 5,922 deals, investors exchanged 382,455,077 shares valued at N4.233billion.
