The Naira on Monday dropped by 0.25 per cent to N1,508.99 against the dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) after the local currency reached a high and low of N1,536.00 and N1,441.00 against the dollar, respectively according to the FMDQ Exchange.
Meanwhile, the local equities market kicked off the second half of the year negatively, dropping N21 billion on selloffs in Nigerian Exchange Group Plc and 27 others.
The Nigerian Exchange Limited All-Share Index (NGX ASI) lost 36.66 basis points or 0.04 per cent to close at 100,020.83 basis points. Also, the market capitalisation declined by N21 billion to close at N56.581 trillion.
The downturn was driven by price depreciation in large and medium-capitalised stocks including NGX Group, Fidson Healthcare, Zenith Bank, NASCON Allied Industries and UAC of Nigeria (UACN).
Looking ahead, analysts at United Capital Plc said “The equities market would be mixed as investors explore opportunistic investment strategy. Thus, we anticipate a cherry-picking of fundamentally sound stocks to persist in the week ahead. Similarly, market activities will increase due to ongoing bank recapitalisation, Q2-filing, and envisaged corporate actions in the weeks ahead.
“Conversely, elevated interest rates in the fixed income market are expected to continue to negatively impact the equities market in the week as investors continue to take advantage of high interest rates in the fixed income space.
“Overall, fund managers and investors should continue to adopt an opportunistic strategy to take advantage of opportunities in the market at each given time.”
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative, as 28 stocks lost relative to 20 gainers. Linkage Assurance emerged the highest price gainer of 10.00 per cent to close at N1.10, per share. Africa Prudential followed with a gain of 9.76 per cent to close at N9.00, while Unity Bank rose by 9.74 per cent to close at N1.69, per share.
Wapic Insurance increased by 8.96 per cent to close at 73 kobo, while Sovereign Trust Insurance gained 8.89 per cent to close at 49 kobo, per share.
On the other side, eTranzact International led the losers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N4.50, per share. Fidson Healthcare followed with a decline of 9.70 per cent to close at N13.50, while Cornerstone Insurance shed 9.52 per cent to close at N1.90, per share.
Lasaco Assurance depreciated by 9.41 per cent to close at N2.31, while UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust down by 8.26 per cent to close at N5.00, per share.
The total volume traded decreased by 46.11 per cent to 274.683 million units, valued at N3.713 billion, and exchanged in 10,112 deals. Transactions in the shares of United Capital led the activity with 26.639 million shares worth N737.255 million. Linkage Assurance followed with account of 23.913 million shares valued at N26.302 million, while AIICO Insurance traded 14.214 million shares valued at N14.316 million.
CWG traded 11.448 million shares worth N89.398 million, while Universal Insurance traded 11.120 million shares worth N4.039 million.
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