By Dipo Olowookere
The first trading session of the new week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited was not palatable for Fidson Healthcare, Lasaco Assurance and 15 other stocks.
Fidson ended the trading session as the worst-performing stock after its share price went down by 9.80 per cent to settle at N4.60, with Lasaco Assurance losing 9.33 per cent to trade at N1.36.
FTN Cocoa went down by 9.09 per cent to 30 kobo, Mutual Benefits Assurance declined by 8.89 per cent to quote at 41 kobo, while Cornerstone Insurance depreciated by 5.17 per cent to sell for 55 kobo.
Business Post reports that investors continued with the cautious trading witnessed at the exchange lately as they cherry-picked equities they believe could add more value in the coming weeks, especially with good half-year earnings.
This contributed to the marginal 0.08 per cent growth reported on Monday at the NGX and it was mainly due to bargain hunting in 18 shares, with Meyer finishing as the best-performing stock after it gained 8.77 per cent to trade at 62 kobo.
Champion Breweries appreciated by 6.06 per cent to N2.10, Julius Berger went up by 44.71 per cent to N20.00, Regency Alliance improved by 4.00 per cent to 52 kobo, while Ikeja Hotel gained 3.19 per cent to trade at 97 kobo.
When the market closed yesterday, the banking industry was up by 0.11 per cent, the consumer goods index was up by 0.06 per cent, the industrial goods counter was up by 0.03 per cent, while the insurance and energy sectors were down by 1.13 per cent and 0.07 per cent respectively.
As for the benchmark index, the All-Share Index (ASI), it was slightly higher by 29.57 points to settle at 38,678.48 points.
During the session, investors traded a total of 209.2 million shares worth N1.8 billion in 3,390 deals compared with the 220.6 million stocks worth N2.5 billion traded in 2,952 deals last Friday.
The demand for Access Bank was high on Monday and it closed as the most active stock with the sale of 22.7 million units valued at N194.0 million.
Axa Mansard Insurance sold 16.7 million shares worth N15.1 million, Zenith Bank exchanged 16.2 million equities worth N384.6 million, Mutual Benefits sold 14.7 million stocks for N6.0 million, while Chams transacted 13.5 million shares valued at N2.7 million.
