Equity market dips by N281bn as investors engage in sell-offs

Transactions on the floor of Nigerian Exchange NGX) Thursday trended downward, as sell-offs and profit booking in Dangote Cement drag the Market in the face of impressive unaudited earnings hitting the Market.

Specifically, market capitalisation of listed equities declined by N281 billion or 1.12 per cent to N24.792 trillion from N25.073 trillion reported the previous day.

The NGX All Share Index also depreciated by 520.76 basis points to 46009.23 points from 46529.99 points traded the previous day.

Investors traded 279.441 million shares valued at N2.763 billion in 4582 deals against 328.997 million shares cost N4.817 billion in 4219 deals.

Financial analysts said that though the market still strong but the selloff and profit taking in Dangote affected the market.

They explained that as the Central Bank of Nigeria retains MPR and Treasury Bill primary market auction rates declining in the short and long tenor, equity market space will be more attractive for fund managers especially as the presence of foreign investors in our market has declined in the past two years due to the outbreak of Covid 19.

This according to him meaning that monetary policy normalization of mature economics and other climate may not affect our market, as all eyes are in corporate earnings and economic data to give direction.

A review of the investment showed that Guinness Nigeria Plc led gainers table during the day, gaining 10.0 per cent to N46.75, International Breweries followed with a gain of 10.00 per cent to N5.50, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated gained 9.63 per cent to N11.95, Prestige Insurance added 9.52 per cent to N0.46, Unilever Nigeria Plc up by 7.28 per cent to N14.00.