The NGX benchmark index fell by 230 basis points to conclude at 44,318.15 points as the Nigerian equities market ended Wednesday’s trading session on a negative note. As a result, the market’s Year-to-date (YTD) return decreased to 3.8% from 7.5% the day before.
FIDELITYBK (+9.7%), JAIZBANK (+7.1%), and MBENEFIT (+6.9%) topped the market’s top gainers, while AIRTELAFRI (-10.0%), MRS (-9.8%), and IKEJAHOTEL (-9.7%) lead the market’s top losers.
The overall volume exchanged during today’s trading operations fell by 60.6% to 165.3 million units, while the total value moved increased by 1.4% to 3.7 billion. With 48,0 million units, 18.5 million units, and 7.6 million units, respectively, FBNH, GTCO, and CHAMS topped the volume ranking. AIRTELAFRI, MTNN, and FBNH, on the other side, topped the value table with 1.2 billion, 711.9 million, and ₦461.8mn respectively.
For indices under our purview, performance was more bullish as three indices printed green and two indices printed red.
Due to investor interest in BUACEMENT (+3.8%), FIDELITYBK (+9.7%), and MBENEFIT (+6.9%), the Industrial Goods, Banking, and Insurance indexes saw gains of 90 basis points, 50 basis points, and 20 basis points, respectively. However, the Consumer Goods and Oil and Gas indexes fell by 30 and 80 basis points, respectively. Investor selloffs in MRS (-9.8%) and NNFM (-9.6%) were blamed for the losses.
One of the top commercial banks in Nigeria, Fidelity Bank Plc, announced a rise in profit after tax for the fiscal year that concluded in 2021. The bank reported a profit after tax for the year of 35.6 billion, which is a 33.5% rise over the previous year. The bank’s profit before tax climbed by 3.7% to 38.1 billion in 2021 from 28.1 billion in 2020, according to the statistics posted on NGX.
The bank’s profit after tax for fiscal year 2020 decreased by 6.2% from ₦28.4 billion in 2019. Profit before tax also decreased in 2020 by 7.6% from ₦30.4 billion reported in 2019.
On daily currency updates, I&E and the parallel market’s prices closed at ₦441.25/US$1.00 and ₦747/US$1.00 respectively. The current P2P Forex market price is ₦747.50/US$1.00. Nigeria’s external reserves is currently US$37.79bn.
