By Dipo Olowookere
The bears made a return to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Monday, weakening the trading platform by 0.09 per cent at the close of transactions.
Business Post reports that renewed sell-off by investors attracted the bears to Nigerian equities, causing 21 of them to land on the losers’ table, with only 14 ending on the gainers’ log.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 37.35 points to 43,270.94 points from 43,308.29 points, while the market capitalisation depleted by N19 billion to N22.579 trillion from N22.598 trillion.
UPDC continued its fall yesterday with a 9.92 per cent loss to settle at N1.18, followed by UPDC REIT, which further declined by 9.90 per cent to trade at N4.55.
Consolidated Hallmark Insurance fell by 7.27 per cent to 51 kobo, Regency Assurance dropped 4.76 per cent to 40 kobo, while Coronation Insurance waned by 4.00 per cent to 48 kobo.
At the other end, AIICO Insurance finished as the highest price gainer after its price rose by 8.57 per cent to 76 kobo, followed by Livingtrust Mortgage Bank, which grew by 7.95 per cent to 95 kobo.
Veritas Kapital appreciated by 4.76 per cent to 22 kobo, ABC Transport gained 3.03 per cent to sell for 34 kobo, while Courtville rose by 2.56 per cent to 40 kobo.
It was observed that apart from the insurance sector, which appreciated by 0.82 per cent, every other sector closed bearish with the exception of the industrial goods space, which closed flat.
The energy index further depreciated by 0.56 per cent, the consumer goods counter declined by 0.23 per cent, while the banking sector closed 0.18 per cent lower.
On the activity chart, it was dull as the trading volume, value and number of deals depreciated by 30.20 per cent, 34.05 per cent and 7.75 per cent respectively.
This was because investors transacted 213.1 million equities worth N2.4 billion in 4,105 deals on Monday compared with the 305.3 million equities worth N3.6 billion transacted in 4,450 deals at the preceding session.
The most traded stock for the day was FCMB with the sale of 58.5 million units worth N179.9 million, trailed by AIICO Insurance with a turnover of 13.5 million units valued at N10.4 million.
Zenith Bank transacted 12.8 million units for N308.7 million, GTCO exchanged 12.4 million units for N309.7 million, while Access Bank traded 10.9 million units for N98.5 million.
