By Dipo Olowookere
The first trading day of the month of July on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) kicked off on a negative note yesterday with a loss of 1.18 percent posted by the market.
This was caused by the poor performances of some large cap equities led by Dangote Cement, Nigerian Breweries and GTBank.
Monday’s loss eroded the gains achieved by the stock market last Thursday and Friday as investors take position ahead of the release of half year results by listed companies.
The All-Share Index (ASI) decreased yesterday by 352.26 points to close at 29,614.61 points, while the market capitalisation reduced by N156 billion to settle at N13.050 trillion.
Also, the level of activity waned during the session as the volume of shares transacted depreciated by 56.74 percent to 107.4 million from 248.4 million, while the value of traded equities decreased by 78.94 percent to N1.1 billion from N5.4 billion.
Transcorp was the most active stock yesterday, closing with a turnover of 21.9 million shares sold for N22.5 billion.
FBN Holdings transacted 12.4 million units worth N81.4 million, while Zenith Bank exchanged 8.6 million shares valued at N168.6 million.
Access Bank transacted 7.6 million equities worth N50.3 million, while GTBank traded 7.5 million shares worth N232.6 million.
On the price movement chart, Dangote Cement topped the decliners’ table with a loss of N3 to settle at N181 per share.
It was followed by Nigerian Breweries, which also lost N3 to finish at N60 per share, and GTBank, which went down by N2.30k to end at N30.60k per share.
Unilever Nigeria also reduced its share value by N2.30k to close at N30.70k per share, while Ecobank depreciated by N1 to quote at N10 per share.
On the other side, Mobil Oil Nigeria dominated the risers’ log after appreciating by N5 to settle at N175 per unit.
MTN Nigeria rose by 45 kobo to close at N129.50k per share, while Lafarge Africa improved by 30 kobo to end at N12.30k per share.
Forte Oil gained 20 kobo to finish at N27 per unit, while Access Bank garnered 15 kobo to settle at N6.65k per share.
Business Post reports that the market closed on Monday with a total of 21 price gainers and 16 price losers, leaving the market breadth positive despite the loss.
