The selling pressure witnessed on the shares of Geregu Power Plc during Thursday’s trading session on the NGX resulted in shareholders losing about N22.5 billion.
Checks by Nairametrics showed that the energy firm’s stock price dropped by 8.11% to N102.00 per share from N111.00.
Further analysis showed that Geregu closed the trading day with N255.000 billion in market capitalization as against N277.500 billion at the beginning of trading.
The sell pressure: The relentless sale pressure (particularly by Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs)) is coming on the back of high commodity inflation caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, which has led to a spike in interest rates and, in turn, led to a jump in bond yields.
Foreign institutional investors invest in Nigerian stocks or other emerging markets when they have excess liquidity (low borrowing costs). However, if bond yields rise in the US, money will move away from emerging markets.
In case you missed it: Despite Geregu’s loss, Nigerian equities extended the bullish rally as the benchmark index gained 0.50% to close at 49,233.02 points, the highest point since 21 September.
- Gains in MTN Nigeria Plc (+2.88%), Zenith Bank Plc (+2.17%) and Lafarge Africa Plc (+2.05%) sustained the positive sentiment of the market activities.
- Consequently, the ASI’s year-to-date (YTD) return rose to 15.26%, while the market capitalization gained N133.43 billion to close at N26.82 trillion.
- Further analysis of the day’s trading activities showed turnover closed higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 27.07%. A total of 222.78 million shares valued at N2.13 billion were exchanged in 2,756 deals. Sterling Bank Plc led the volume chart with 153.28 million units traded while Airtel Africa Plc led the value chart in deals worth N744.34 million.