Maintaining positive path, equities trading on the floor of The Nigerian Stock Exchange rounded up in the positive territory as the lead performance pointer, NSEASI added 121Bpts to its trading points, and closed at 41,584.94 from 41,088.96 It was a mixed performance amongst the observed market indices as shown in the index movement table. Thus, Week to Date, Lead index is 142Bpts above opening, while the total gained points in the month of January is now 326Bpts. See the index movement table for details.

Finally, the most awaited MPC meeting ended today with the decision to keep the monetary policy rate unchanged at 11.5%. Policy makers remain focused on stimulating a recessive economy despite growing inflationary pressures. In December, headline inflation climbed further to an over three-year high of 15.75%, mainly linked to dollar shortages and surging jihadist attacks in farming areas as well as lingering disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, Nigeria slipped into its second recession in four years in the third quarter of 2020, amid the twin impact of COVID-19 restrictions and low oil prices, in other words, the move to retain rate is cantered on its strategy to recover the economy from recession.

The total value gained by the Market Capitalization of the listed equities during today’s trading activities was N259.452 billion, same as 121pts above the opening value. Meanwhile, trading activities for the day produced 32 ADVANCERS and 19 LAGERS. NSEASI Year to Date gain is now 326Bpts while the Market Capitalization Year to Date gain stood at N696.787 billion same as 331Bpts above the year’s opening value.

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