By TAIYE OLAYEMI

The Nigerian equities market closed in the red on Tuesday, as investors lost N1.141 trillion following sell-offs in large-cap, consumer goods and insurance stocks.

This development triggered massive sell-offs in stocks such as Daar Communications, Tantalizers, BUA Foods, Ellah Lakes, Japaul Gold, and 35 other equities, which dragged overall market performance lower.

The decline followed the outcome of the 304th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which cut the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 50 basis points to 26.50 per cent.

The MPC also adjusted the asymmetric corridor to +50/-450 basis points around the MPR, retained the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for Deposit Money Banks at 45 per cent and for Merchant Banks at 16 per cent, while maintaining the Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent.

Market capitalisation declined by N1.141 trillion, or 0.92 per cent, to close at N124.827 trillion from N125.968 trillion recorded at the previous session.

Similarly, the All-Share Index shed 1,778.95 points, or 0.92 per cent, to close at 194,484.61 compared with 196,263.56 posted on Monday.

The downturn reduced the year-to-date return to 24.98 per cent, while market breadth closed negative with 40 losers against 27 gainers.

Tantalizer and Daar Communications led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent each, settling at N4.86 and N2.25 per share.

BUA Foods shed by 9.99 per cent finishing at N760.60, Ellah Lakes dipped by 9.96 per cent, ending the session at N10.40 while Ja Paul Gold lost by 9.95 per cent, closing at N3.80 per share.

Conversely, Jaiz Bank led the gainers’ chart by 10 per cent, ending the session at N12.76, Infinity Trust trailed by 9.83 per cent, finishing at N19 and FCMB gained by 9.72 per cent, closing at N13.55 per share.

Fortis Global Insurance rose by 9.09 per cent, settling at 72k while Sterling Nigeria increased by 7.50 per cent, closing at N8.60 per share.

A total of 1.14 billion shares worth N53.4 billion were exchanged across 72,218 transactions, compared to 1.3 billion shares valued at N31.5 billion that was traded in 95,091 deals earlier on Monday.

An evaluation of the market activity revealed a 12 per cent decline in volume, 24 per cent drop in deals but 44 per cent growth in value.

Meanwhile, Ja Paul Gold recorded the highest volume of 102 million traded shares for the day. (NAN)

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