Transactions on the stock market closed negatively on Tuesday for the second day, depreciating further by 1.38 per cent in reaction to the outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

At the bi-monthly MPC meeting, CBN raised the benchmark lending rate by 400 basis points to 22.75 per cent from 18.75 per cent to stem inflation.

The MPC meeting was the first under Olayemi Cardoso, CBN governor since he came on board in September 2023.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI), which dropped by 1.38 per cent or 1,412.64 points, closed at 100,582.89 points, compared to 101,995.53 posted on Monday.

The market capitalisation also shed N773 billion or 1.38 per cent to close at N55.037 trillion, compared to N55.810 trillion recorded in the previous session.

As a result, the Year-To-Date return fell to 34.52 per cent.

The market losses were driven by selloffs in MTN Nigeria, FBN Holdings and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) stocks, among others.

Meanwhile, 280.46 million shares valued at N6.12 billion were exchanged in 9,141 deals, as against 294.32 million shares valued at N6.72 billion, exchanged in 9,957 deals posted previously.

Also, analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 8.96 per cent.

Reacting, David Adonri, vice chairman of Highcap Securities Ltd., said investment in the capital market is vulnerable to changes in the monetary policy.

Mr Adonri, in an interview with journalists in Lagos, explained that the drop in the market performance was due to further tightening of the monetary policy by CBN.

He stated that the CBN MPC’s decision meant the interest rate would increase severely.

On the losers’ table, FBN Holdings and Multiverse Mining and Exploration Plc led in percentage terms of 10 each to close at N30. 60 and N15.30 per share, respectively.

MTN followed by a loss of 9.94 per cent to close at N222.90, McNichols Plc shed 9.79 per cent to close at N1.29, while Consolidated Hallmark Insurance went down by 9.63 per cent to close at N1.22 per share.

On the other hand, Africa Prudential Plc and Omatek Venture led the gainers’ table in percentage terms of 9.86 each to close at N7.80 and 78k per share, respectively.

Juli Plc also gained 9.73 per cent to close at N2.82, and Tantalizers garnered 8.11 per cent to close at 40k, while Ellah Lakes Plc rose by 8.07 per cent to close at N3.08 per share.

On the activity table, Transcorp led in volume with 44.41 million shares at the value of N583.52, and Access Corporation followed with sales of 30.56 million shares worth N600.55 million.

Also, the United Bank of Africa(UBA) traded 26.51 million shares valued at N611.20 million; Zenith Bank sold 24.96 million shares worth N874.63 million.

The National Salt Company of Nigeria traded 13.80 million shares worth N893.68 million to lead the chart in value.

Meanwhile, market breadth is closed negatively, with 24 laggards and nine gainers on the equity market.

(NAN)