By Dipo Olowookere
It was a poor start to the week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Monday as the market closed the session 0.38 per cent lower.
Sustained selloff by investors waned on the local bourse, though high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) and institutional investors pushed the level of transactions higher.
Business Post observed that despite the decline suffered by the market yesterday, the activity chart was bullish and this was mainly from the cross deals witnessed during the session which came from FBN Holdings, GTCO and Lafarge Africa.
At the close of business, a total of 422.2 million shares worth N4.5 billion were traded in 5,059 deals in contrast to the 181.0 million shares worth N2.4 billion traded in 4,019 deals, signifying an increase in the trading volume, value and number of deals by 133.31 per cent, 84.34 per cent and 25.88 per cent respectively.
FBN Holdings was the most traded stock, selling 128.9 million units worth N1.5 billion, followed by Sterling Bank with 77.8 million units valued at N115.8 million.
GTCO sold 47.8 million shares valued at N1.2 billion, United Capital exchanged 21.0 million stocks worth N202.7 million, while UBA transacted 18.6 million equities for N140.0 million.
The worst-performing stock for the session was Lafarge Africa as it dropped 9.94 per cent to close at N22.20 and was trailed by Linkage Assurance, which fell by 8.93 per cent to 51 kobo.
ABC Transport declined by 8.82 per cent to 31 kobo, Vitafoam lost 8.68 per cent to trade at N20.00, Fidelity Bank went down by 5.60 per cent to N2.36.
On the flip side, Royal Exchange closed the day as the best-performing stock after its share price improved by 9.43 per cent to 58 kobo, trailed by Meyer, which grew by 9.09 per cent to 24 kobo.
Consolidated Hallmark Insurance also appreciated by 9.09 per cent to 48 kobo, UPDC grew also by 9.09 per cent to N1.08, while Champion Breweries appreciated by 7.92 per cent to N2.59.
Data from the exchange indicated that all the five key sectors of the market performed badly on Monday, with the insurance sector leading the pack after it depreciated by 1.77 per cent.
The banking space went down by 1.37 per cent, the industrial goods counter depreciated by 0.58 per cent, the consumer goods index fell by 0.34 per cent, and the energy counter declined by 0.11 per cent.
When the market closed at 2:30 pm yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) was down by 159.31 points to 42,008.60 points from 42,167.91 points, while the market capitalisation was down by N83 billion to N21.920 trillion from N22.003 trillion.
