By Dipo Olowookere
Trading activities resumed on Monday on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and by the time the market closed for the day, it ended weak, mainly buoyed by panic selling by investors as well as falling prices of highly capitalised equities.
The stock market went down by 0.90 percent today, extending the loss to the sixth day to shrink the year-to-date return further to 11.75 percent.
Business Post reports that the market breadth finished negative on Monday with 12 price risers and 36 price fallers.
The biggest price loser on Monday was Nigerian Breweries, which depreciated by N3.90k to settle at N133 per share.
It was followed by GTBank, which fell by N2.40k to close at N45.60k per share, and Lafarge, which declined by N2 to finish at N50 per share.
Zenith Bank lost N1.50k to end at N29.40k per share, while Flour Mills went down by N1.10k to close at N31.50k per share.
On the flip side, Dangote Cement emerged the biggest price gainer, appreciating by N5.30k to finish at N272 per share.
It was trailed by Beta Glass, which rose by N3.25k to close at N68.70k per share, and PZ Cussons, which improved by N1.40k to end at N25.40k per share.
GlaxoSmithKline advanced by N1 to settle at N21.20k per share, while International Breweries also increased by N1 to finish at N60 per share
Business Post further reports that though the volume of equities traded by investors on Monday slightly depreciated, the value increased.
A total of 517.4 million shares worth N5.2 billion were traded today in 5,852 deals compared with 552.4 million units valued at N4.5 billion transacted at the last trading session on Friday in 5,489 deals.
Skye Bank was the most traded stock in terms of volume. The counter sold 73.2 million shares worth N79.2 million.
FBN Holdings traded 71.3 units valued at N815.7 million, while Jaiz Bank sold 40.6 million equities for N42.4 million.
In addition, Transcorp transacted 40.5 million shares valued at N84 million, while FCMB exchanged 26.2 million equities worth N71.3 million.
A look at the major market indices showed that the All-Share Index (ASI) went down on Monday by 390.03 points to settle at 42,737.89 points, while the market capitalisation decreased by N139.6 billion to close at N15.337 trillion.
As Business Post earlier predicted, the market may bounce back tomorrow or Wednesday as some investors have used this long weak period to gather some weak stocks at the market.
