By Dipo Olowookere
A disappointing inflation data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) further weakened Nigerian equities on Wednesday by 0.42 per cent.
Investors were expecting the average price of goods and services to slow in February because Nigerians reduced their expenditures last month due to the scarcity of cash, but when the stats office released the inflation numbers, the rate climbed higher by 21.91 per cent compared with 21.82 per cent achieved in January 2023.
The decline was buoyed by sustained sell-offs in the banking space, which closed lower by 1.95 per cent, as the consumer goods and the industrial goods sectors fell by 0.29 per cent and 0.01 per cent apiece. The insurance index grew by 0.44 per cent, while the energy counter closed flat.
The persistent selling pressure brought down the All-Share Index (ASI) by 232.70 points to 55,490.20 points from 55,722.90 points as the market capitalisation declined by N127 billion to N30.229 trillion from N30.356 trillion.
A total of 181.2 million shares worth N3.4 billion were transacted in 3,908 deals in the midweek session compared with the 199.3 million shares worth N2.8 billion traded in 3,898 deals, indicating a decline in the trading volume by 9.08 per cent, an increase in the trading value by 21.43 per cent and an improvement in the number of deals by 0.26 per cent.
GTCO was the most active stock during the session as it transacted 33.9 million units, Transcorp exchanged 20.1 million units, Zenith Bank sold 18.6 million units, Flour Mills traded 18.5 million units, and UBA sold 15.2 million units.
United Capital ended the session on top of the losers’ chart after it went down by 9.30 per cent to N11.70, University Press fell by 7.50 per cent to N1.85, GlaxoSmithKline shed 7.46 per cent to N6.20, Neimeth declined by 7.01 per cent to N1.46, and Oando depreciated by 6.74 per cent to N4.01.
The equity on top of the gainers’ log yesterday was Prestige Assurance, which grew by 7.89 per cent to 41 Kobo, Veritas Kapital expanded by 5.00 per cent to 21 Kobo, NGX Group rose by 4.87 per cent to N28.00, Unilever Nigeria improved by 3.70 per cent to N14.00, and Japaul jumped by 3.57 per cent to 29 Kobo.
Business Post reports that investor sentiment remained weak on Wednesday as the market breadth ended negative with 19 price losers and 11 price losers.
