By Dipo Olowookere
It was a poor start to the new trading week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Monday as stocks depreciated by 0.36 per cent at the close of business.
Selloffs in some financial, consumer goods and industrial goods shares contributed to the decline suffered by the market yesterday, causing the All-Share Index (ASI) to contract by 136.30 points to 37,857.89 points from 37,994.19 points. The selling pressure also shrank the market capitalisation by N71 billion to N19.725 trillion from N19.796 trillion.
Business Post reports that of the five key sectors of the market monitored yesterday, only the energy index closed bullish as it rose marginally by 0.05 per cent.
The banking sector went down by 1.00 per cent, the consumer goods counter depreciated by 0.40 per cent, the industrial goods space lost 0.35 per cent, while the insurance sector went down by 0.03 per cent.
CWG led the losers’ chart on Monday after its share price went down by 9.52 per cent to N1.14 and was followed by International Breweries, which declined by 5.66 per cent to N5.00.
Champion Breweries fell by 3.23 per cent to N2.10, FBN Holdings dropped 2.60 per cent to sell at N7.50, while Axa Mansard Insurance reduced by 2.25 per cent to 87 kobo.
On the gainers’ chart, Tripple Gee was on top after its value went up by 9.89 per cent to N1.00 and was trailed by Regency Alliance, which grew by 8.89 per cent to 49 kobo.
UPDC appreciated by 7.44 per cent to sell at N1.30, FTN Cocoa gained 5.88 per cent to quote at 36 kobo, while Mutual Benefits Assurance rose by 5.00 per cent to 42 kobo.
At the close of transactions, there were 13 price decliners and 16 price risers, indicating that the market breadth, which measures investor sentiment, was positive despite the loss.
On the activity chart, the trading volume reduced by 22.58 per cent to 187.2 million shares from 241.8 million shares, the trading value increased by 6.74 per cent to N2.9 billion from N2.7 billion, while the number of deals grew by 5.18 per cent to 4,017 deals from 3,819 deals.
The most active stock of the day was Zenith Bank as it sold 35.3 million equities valued at N870.9 million, with Sovereign Trust Insurance, which followed, selling 14.2 million equities valued at N4.0 million.
UBA transacted 14.1 million shares worth N106.1 million, Mutual Benefits Assurance sold 13.4 million stocks worth N5.6 million, while Transcorp traded 11.5 million shares valued at N10.4 million.
