Stock market gains N113bn on MPR retention

The nation's bourse on Tuesday halted three consecutive days bearish posture with a growth of N113 billion due to interest rate retention at 11.5 per cent.

Specifically, the market capitalisation rose by N113 billion to close at N17.943 trillion from N17.830 trillion achieved on Monday.

Also, the All-Share Index which opened at 34,121.78 rose by 218.78 points or 0.64 per cent to close at 34,340.56.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Monetary Policy Committee members, at the last meeting for the year, voted to hold all policy variables.

The retention was coming on the back of the recent National Bureau of Statistics report which confirmed that the economy slipped into recession as GDP contracted by 3.62 per cent in the third quarter.

Consequently, the committee decided to hold Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 11.5 per cent; retained Cash Reserves Ratio at 27.5 per cent; and liquidity ratio at 30 per cent.

The upturn in the stock market was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are Stanbic IBTC Holdings, United Bank for Africa, Access Bank, FBN Holdings and UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust.

A breakdown of the price movement table showed that UPDC Real Estate Investment led the gainers' chart in percentage terms, gaining 9.64 per cent to close at N4.55 per share.

United Capital followed with 9.52 per cent to close at N4.60, while Fidelity Bank rose by 9.47 per cent to close at N2.66 per share.

Mutual Benefits Assurance rose by 8.70 per cent to close at 25k, while Cornerstone Insurance appreciated by 8.62 per cent to close at 63k per share.

On the other hand, Eterna led the losers' chart in percentage terms, dropping 9.98 per cent to close at N4.15 per share.

Fidson Healthcare followed with 9.81 per cent to close at N4.87, while Champion Breweries lost 9.43 per cent to close at 96k per share.

Julius Berger dipped 8.95 per cent to close at N17.30, while Chams shed 8.33 per cent to close at 22k per share.

However, the total volume of transacted shares decreased by 35.67 per cent as investors bought and sold 365.41 million shares valued N4.69 billion, exchanged in 6,325 deals.

This was against 568.04 million shares worth N7.33 billion traded in 8,928 deals on Monday.

Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 71.93 million shares valued at N1.73 billion.

Transcorp followed with 37.17 million shares worth N32.85 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank traded 30.003 million shares valued at N1.02 billion.

Access Bank traded 29.55 million shares worth N243.31 million, while UBA transacted 29.33 million shares worth N236.30 million.