With the flourish in H1’22 seemingly a distant memory, investors’ pessimistic disposition toward domestic equities accelerated throughout September. While the first half of the month was generally lulled, market entropy amplified thereafter following the stubbornly elevated inflation print and the market anticipation of a more hawkish outcome from the MPC meeting.
In line with expectations, the MPC tightened the noose with a 150bps rate hike, with the CBN governor highlighting the desirability of having rates at least equal to inflation. With the increasing attractiveness of fixed-income securities, investors continued to rotate out of equities to ride the wave of yield expansion.
All in, the NGX All-Share Index fell by 1.6% MoM (August: -1.1%), further moderating the YTD return to 14.8% as of September close. The downturn was all-encompassing, as the NGX 30 and the five key sectoral indices also suffered losses. Compared to August, trade metrics thinned, with volume and value traded contracting by 22.3% and 34.5% to 3.6 billion units and ₦40.9 billion, respectively.
