By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) kicked off trading activities on Monday on a bearish note, reversing the gains recorded last Friday when it went up by 1.44 percent.
The local bourse, Business Post reports, was weakened yesterday by losses posted by some blue-chip equities trading at the market. This was caused by profit-taking embarked upon by investors.
By the time the stock market closed for the day, it pointed south, finishing 0.87 percent lower, while the Year-to-Date returns ended at 0.77 percent.
While the All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated yesterday by 331.63 points to close at 37,946.92 points, the market capitalisation decreased by N120 billion to finish at N13.746 trillion.
Business Post further reports that the volume of equities bought and sold at the stock market on Monday decreased by 45.41 percent just as the value of shares exchanged went down by 68.02 percent.
A total of 256.229 million shares exchanged hands yesterday in 3,308 deals worth N1.9 billion compared with the 469.342 million units traded in the previous session valued at N5.8 billion.
A breakdown of the transactions showed that the Financial Services sector led the activity chart with 203.2 million shares exchanged for N1.1 billion, while the Services sector followed with 13 million shares traded for N29 million.
A further breakdown indicated that Sterling Bank shares were the darling of Investors at the market on Monday, with a total of 100.4 million units worth N138.5 million traded at the close of business.
It was followed by FBN Holdings, which sold 23.7 million shares valued at N251.1 million, and Wema Bank, which exchanged 16.9 million equities worth N12.4 million.
UBA transacted 12.6 million shares valued at N131.8 million yesterday, while McNichols Consolidated sold 11.8 million equities worth N10.6 million.
On the price movement chart, Dangote Cement emerged the biggest price loser, going down by N4.90k to settle at N224.10k per share.
It was trailed by Forte Oil, which went down by N3.20k to close at N29.65k per share, and Nigerian Breweries, which lost N1.10k to finish at N113.10k per share.
GTBank depreciated by 50 Kobo to finish at N40 per share, while Zenith Bank declined by 40 Kobo to settle at N24.60k per share.
On the other hand, it was a good day for Mobil Oil Nigeria as its stock appreciated by N16.90k to close at N199.90k per share.
It was followed by Guinness Nigeria, which gained N1.30k to settle at N99.05 per share, and Flour Mill, which went up by 80 Kobo to close at N32.80k per share.
Julius Berger grew by 55 Kobo to settle at N28.05k per share, while C&I Leasing increased by 20 Kobo to end at N2.27k per share.
