…As sell-offs in Dangote Cement, others plunge NGX further by 1.47%
By Yahaya Umar
Naira depreciated on the American currency in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market ,NAFEM, on Wednesday, January 15 by 0.09% or N1.45 to close at N1,551.10/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,549.65/$1.
It was the fourth straight session the local currency was losing value on the greenback in the official forex market as the deadline to end the access of Bureaux De Change ,BDCs, to the official trading platform nears.
Also, Nigeria’s inflation neared a 29-year high as it rose for the fourth straight month to 34.80 per cent in December 2024 spurred by high festive activities.
On the British currency, which is the Pound Sterling, the domestic currency depreciated by N24.79 to wrap the session at N1,904.43/£1 versus the previous day’s N1,879.64/£1 and against the Euro, it weakened by N14.74 to sell for N1,600.79 per Euro versus N1,586.05/€1.
At the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira traded flat against the US Dollar yesterday at N1,650/$1, according to data obtained by Business Post.
In the cryptocurrency market, most of the tokens gained as the anticipation of Mr Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president is building bullish sentiment for the market, which was also encouraged by a highly anticipated CPI inflation data report in the US.
Litecoin ,LTC, grew by 17.7% to quote at $119.82, Ripple (XRP) expanded by 9.0% to a six-year high of $3.10, Solana ,SOL, appreciated by 7.2% to trade at $202.81, Dogecoin ,DOGE, rose by 5.3% to finish at $0.3789, Ethereum ,ETH, increased its value by 4.7% to end at $3,376.28, and Cardano jumped by 3.3% to settle at $1.06, Bitcoin ,BTC, gained 2.8% to close at $99,707.22, and Binance Coin ,BNB, improved by 1.6% to trade at $710.31, while the US Dollar Tether ,USDT, and the US Dollar Coin ,USDC, remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
Meanwhile, Sustained profit-taking in high-cap stock like Dangote Cement deepened the woes of the Nigerian Exchange ,NGX, Limited.
The domestic equity market lost 1.47% at midweek as the National Bureau of Statistics ,NBS, revealed that inflation in Nigeria was further elevated in December 2024 by 34.80%, prompting investors to maintain their selling pressure stance.
Data showed that the industrial goods index depreciated by 4.70% at the close of business as the insurance sector slumped by 3.47%.
However, the consumer goods space improved by 0.99%, the energy counter appreciated by 0.15%, and the banking industry gained 0.02%.
When the closing gong was struck by 2:30 pm to signal the close of trading activities yesterday, the All-Share Index ,ASI, was down by 1,529.59 points to 102,095.95 points from 103,625.54 points and the market capitalisation went down by N933 billion to N62.257 trillion from N63.190 trillion.
Like the preceding trading day, investor sentiment was weak at midweek after Customs Street ended with 28 price gainers and 39 price losers, implying a negative market breadth index.
Universal Insurance and Dangote Cement were the biggest price losers as they shed 10.00% each to close at 63 Kobo, and N387.90, respectively, as John Holt declined by 9.99% to N8.47, Transcorp Power lost 9.97% to close at N324.00, and Omatek tumbled by 9.89% to 82 Kobo.
Conversely, Dangote Sugar, NASCON, and Sunu Assurances chalked up 10.00 % each to sell for N36.85, N38.50, and N6.71, respectively, as SAHCO rose by 9.95 per cent to N33.15, and Austin Laz grew by 9.94% to N1.99.
Investors bought and sold 435.5 million equities valued at N9.4 billion in 12,098 deals during the session versus the 503.3 million equities worth N12.6 billion traded in 12,900 deals on Tuesday, indicating a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 13.47%, 25.40% and 6.22% apiece.
Universal Insurance topped the activity log with the sale of 70.3 million shares for N46.4 million, AIICO Insurance traded 39.7 million equities valued at N67.5 million, Access Holdings exchanged 16.8 million stocks worth N414.0 million, Livestock Feeds transacted 16.8 million shares valued at N106.8 million, and Nigerian Breweries traded 16.2 million equities worth N518.2 million
