MTN Nigeria records N143 loss in market value as share price dips

MTN Nigeria Plc recorded a loss of N143 billion in market value at the end of Tuesday’s trading session on the Nigerian Exchange to rank among the losers of the day.

MTN Nigeria’s share price depreciated by 3.26% to close at N208.00 per share, taking the market capitalization to N4.233 trillion from the N4.376 trillion it closed the previous day.

The decline in share prices can be attributed to investors’ low sentiment informed by the 2023 general elections approaches, even as speculators continue to move their funds to money market instruments for higher yield following the interest rate hike.

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Hence, the sell-pressures resulted in a loss of N143 billion in market capitalization at the close of trading activities on the Nigeria Exchange.

Following MTN Nigeria’s loss, negative sentiment drove the domestic bourse as the NGX All-Share Index closed 0.09% lower to settle at 48,853.54 points.

Investor positive interest in BUA Cement Plc (+3.60%), Zenith Bank Plc (+2.45%) and Lafarge Africa Plc (+0.23%) was overwhelmed by losses recorded in MTNN (-3.26%). Consequently, the year-to-date (YTD) return fell to 14.37%, while the market capitalization shed N24.80 billion to close at N26.61 trillion.

Further analysis of the day’s trading activities showed market turnover closed higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 53.94%. A total of 162.98 million units of shares valued at N3.87 billion were exchanged in 3,286 deals.