By Dipo Olowookere
The first trading day of this week finished bearish on Monday despite an impressive half year results churned out by Transcorp Plc.
The firm, in its financial statements released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) today, grew its profit by over 100 percent when compared with the same period of last year. Its revenue appreciated by over 50 percent.
But despite this positive news, which the market had been yearning for, the local stock exchange ended 0.34 percent lower, with the Year-to-Date (YtD) returns closing at -2.55 percent.
At the close of transactions, the All Share Index (ASI), which closed at 37,392.77 points last Friday, went down by 125.91 points today to finish at 37,266.86 points.
Similarly, the market capitalization, which ended at N13.546 trillion in the previous session, reduced by N46 billion to settle at N13.500 trillion.
Business Post reports that the market breadth finished negative on Monday with a total of 8 appreciating stocks and 32 depreciating equities.
Flour Mills, which topped the price gainers’ chart, only appreciated by a meagre 90 kobo to close at N29.90k per share.
UAC of Nigeria, which followed, rose by 70 kobo to finish at N14 per share, while NAHCO gained 37 kobo to end at N4.08k per share.
Ecobank improved by 35 kobo to settle at N20.75k per share, while Transcorp increased by 3 kobo to wrap the day at N1.26k per share.
Conversely, CAP recorded the highest price loss after going down by N2.50k to settle for the day at N34.50k per share.
It was trailed by Forte Oil, which lost N1.90k to close at N27 per share, and PZ Cussons, which also went down by N1.90k to end at N17.10k per share.
UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust depreciated by N1 to close at N9 per share, while Custodian and Allied decreased by 61 kobo to settle at N5.51k per share.
The volume of transacted recorded at the market today increased by 42.56 percent, while the value fell by 36.96 percent.
A total of 303.5 million shares were traded by investors on Monday in 3,402 deals worth N2 billion compared with the 212.9 million equities sold last Friday valued at N3.2 billion.
These trades were dominated by stocks in the Financial Services sector, which led the activity chart today with 120.6 million shares exchanged for N1.3 billion.
It was followed by equities in the Services sector, which transacted 103.8 million unit valued at N208 million.
Shares of Medview Air attracted the curiosity of investors at the market today, which led to a total of 100 million units of the stock sold for N198.4 million.
It was followed by FBN Holdings, which exchanged 42.9 million shares valued at N445.8 million, and Transcorp, which traded 40.6 million equities for N51.5 million.
Multiverse Resources transacted 20.9 million shares worth N4.2 million, while Zenith Bank sold 16.6 million equities valued at N398.5 million.
Adedapo Adesanya