Despite the impact of Covid-19 on the Nigerian economy, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday retained Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 13.5 per cent and held other policy parameters constant.
The MPC decision came on a day, the stock grew marginally at 0.19 percent.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele on Tuesday explained that the committee also decided to retain Asymmetric Corridors of +200 -500 bp around the MPR as well as retained Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 27.5 per cent and Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent.
Emefiele disclosed that after weighing the options of tightening, loosening or to hold, the committee while taking the decision took cognisant of the need to address unfolding and unfavorable micro economic development.
Meanwhile, the All Share Index (ASI) increased by 40.18 points or 0.19 per cent to close at 21,741.16.
Market capitalisation improved by N21 billion or 0.19 per cent to close at N11.329 trillion compared with N11.308 achieved on Monday.
The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Stanbic IBTC, Chemical and Allied Products, Custodian Investment, Zenith Bank and Skyway Aviation Handling Company.
Market breath closed positive with 19 gainers and 10 losers.
NPF Micro Finance Bank led the gainers’ table in percentage terms, growing by 9.52 per cent to close at N1.15 per share.
Stanbic IBTC Holdings followed with a gain 9.43 per cent to close at N26.10, while Transcorp appreciated by 8.93 per cent to close at 61k per share.
Jaiz Bank grew by 8.89 per cent to close at 49k, while Skyway Aviation Handling Company appreciated by 8.66 per cent to close at N2.51 per share.
Conversely, Caverton led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 10 per cent, to close at N2.25 per share.
Conoil followed with a decline of 9.93 per cent to close at N13.15, while NASCON went down by 9.57 per cent to close at N8.50 per share.
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated shed 8.99 per cent to close at N4.05, while Cadbury depreciated by 8.85 per cent to close at N5.15 per share.
However, the total volume traded decreased by 28.9 per cent to 330.10 million shares, worth N3.57 billion, and traded in 4,561 deals.
