By Dipo Olowookere
Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday, February 1, 2021, ended bearish with a 0.13 per cent loss.
This was influenced by profit-taking witnessed in the consumer goods and banking sectors, which outweighed the gains posted by insurance and energy sectors.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI reduced by 54.76 points to 42,357.90 points from the previous 42,412.66 points, while the market capitalisation was cut down by N29 billion to N22.158 trillion from N22.187 trillion.
Business Post reports that it was a bad day for Nestle Nigeria as its share price dropped N55 to settle at N1450 per unit, while Julius Berger fell by N1.65 to N21 per unit.
Also, Flour Mills depreciated by N1.10 to end at N33.60 per share, Vitafoam declined by 35 kobo to sell for N9.70 per unit, while Access Bank went down by 15 kobo to N9.15 per share.
On the flip side, Seplat was the biggest gainer with a price appreciation of N5 to settle at N495 per share and was trailed by MRS Oil, which gained N1.10 to sell at N13.40 per unit.
UAC Nigeria appreciated by 60 kobo to finish at N8.95 per share, Dangote Sugar moved up by 45 kobo to trade at N21.70 per unit, while Cadbury Nigeria grew by 40 kobo to quote at N9.20 per share.
The most active stock of the trading day was Union Bank as investors bought and sold 79.6 million units of its shares valued at N469.6 million.
Transcorp traded 61.8 million stocks for N64.7 million, UBA transacted 44.3 million equities for N406.7 million, Access Bank sold 40.2 million shares valued at N371.7 million, while FBN Holdings exchanged 37.5 million stocks for N282.4 million.
At the close of business, a total of 586.8 million shares worth N6.0 billion were traded in 7,611 deals compared with the 669.9 million stocks worth N6.6 billion transacted in 6,663 deals last Friday, indicating a decline in the trading volume and value by 12.40 per cent and 8.61 per cent respectively and 14.23 per cent rise in the number of deals.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Modupe Gbadeyanka