By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian equities market on Tuesday extended losses to the eighth consecutive session primarily driven by heavy selloffs across the Oil & Gas names with the all -share index (ASI) falling by 0.15 percent to close at 25,461.34 points.
This is coming on the heels of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) retaining its Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 14 percent
as the country is still faced with the challenges of a severely weakened macroeconomic landscape, accentuated by stagflation dilemma, declining economic and business activities, and deepening recessionary trend.
“Today’s performance further increased the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses to 6.46 percent and 11.47 percent respectively,” according to Cordros daily market update.
The report says significant price declines in the shares of oil marketing majors, Forte Oil Plc, Eterna Plc and Total Nigeria Plc all losing by 9.74 percent, 7.94 percent and 5.00 percent respectively, weighed on the Oil & Gas to shed 2.10 percent.
The Consumer Goods index dropped by 0.02 percent to close lower, on the back of losses recorded in the shares of beer producer, Nigerian Breweries Plc, soap and detergent maker, PZ Cusssons Nigeria Plc both depreciated by 0.01 percent and 3.34 percent.
On the positive side, the Banking index grew by 0.05 percent to rebound, albeit marginally, from yesterday’s loss following snippets of demand in the shares of Nigeria’s top tier lenders, Zenith Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc; both gaining by 0.35 percent and 0.29 percent, while both the Industrial Goods and Insurance indices closed flat.
Cordros reports at the close of the trading session on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth remained negative, with 11 gainers and 17 losers recorded, according to data from the NSE.
Brewer, Champion Breweries Plc emerged the top gainer with a gain of 0.19 kobo per share; while Forte Oil Plc topped the losers table with a loss of N8.05 per share.
In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian equities market rose by 7.55 percent to N120.93 million shares, valued at N1.19 billion, and traded in 2,397 deals.
“We expect investor appetite to remain weak in the coming session,” the Cordros report affirmed.
