Nigeria’s stock market decreased by 0.11 percent or N72billion on Wednesday April 2, the first trading day after two days public holidays marking the Eid-el-Fitr celebration.
UACN led the league of market’s major laggards after its shares price decreased from N35.50 to N31.95, losing N3.55 or 10 percent, it was followed by University Press which decreased from N4.32 to N3.89, after losing 43kobo or 9.95percent.
Also, Sunu Assurances decreased from N6.65 to N5.99, losing 66 kobo or 9.92 percent. Consolidated Hallmark Holdings made the top laggards list after its share price decreased from N3.58 to N3.23, losing 35kobo or 9.78 percent, while Learn Africa dropped from a high of N3.32 to N3, losing 32kobo or 9.64 percent.
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“Looking forward, the equities market is expected to improve as investors position themselves for the full year (FY) 2024 earnings season and possible corporate action declarations. “Nevertheless, given the elevated interest rate environment in the fixed-income market, we still expect bearish sentiments to linger in the background,” United Capital research analysts said in their April 2 note.
At the close of trading on Wednesday, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and equities market capitalisation which opened the week at 105,660.64 points and N66.257trillion respectively closed at 105,547.16 points and N66.185 trillion.
Fidelity Bank, Mutual Benefit, Nigerian Breweries, GTCO and Zenith Bank were actively traded stocks. In 17,082 deals, investors exchanged 431,222,166 shares worth N11.784billion.
Futureview research analysts who said the market is poised for a positive trend this week, “driven by renewed investor interest in undervalued stocks”, noted that favourable corporate actions and strong earnings reports “are expected to boost sentiment and support market recovery”.
