Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited sustained its downward movement on Monday as it marginally closed lower by 0.05 per cent.
This was mainly caused by profit-taking in some key stocks of the market like MTN Nigeria, UBA, Dangote Sugar, Ecobank and others.
Also, the low buying appetite contributed to the downfall of the exchange yesterday, though there are signs of renewed interests in the market.
At the close of transactions, the volume of trades went down by 6.80 per cent to 293.4 million units from 314.9 million units, the value of transactions depreciated by 7.75 per cent to N4.3 billion from N4.7 billion, while the number of deals increased by 24.68 per cent to 4,239 deals from 3,400 deals.
FBN Holdings ended the session as the most traded stock with 101.2 million units valued at N1.2 billion, Access Bank traded 44.2 million units worth N417.0 million, FCMB exchanged 34.9 million units worth N108.0 million, GTCO transacted 18.5 million units for N507.4 million, while Zenith Bank traded 16.2 million units valued at N388.0 million.
A look at the price movement chart, Veritas Kapital was the heaviest price loser with a decline of 8.70 per cent to trade at 21 kobo, followed by FTN Cocoa, which lost 6.82 per cent to close at 41 kobo.
Royal Exchange depreciated by 5.66 per cent to quote at 50 kobo, Regency Assurance declined by 5.00 per cent to settle at 38 kobo, while Chams lost 4.17 per cent to close at 23 kobo.
On the reverse side, Cutix ended the first trading session of the new week with a price appreciation of 9.50 per cent to settle at N3.00.
Livestock Feeds also grew by 9.50 per cent to quote at N2.19, Mutual Benefits Assurance gained 7.41 per cent to sell for 29 kobo, Japaul appreciated by 4.76 per cent to 44 kobo, while Prestige Assurance rose by 4.65 per cent to 45 kobo.
At the close of the market, there were 14 depreciating stocks and 20 appreciating equities, indicating a positive market breadth and a strong investor sentiment.
A look at the performance of the key sectors showed that the loss yesterday was majorly triggered by sell-offs in the banking space as its index declined by 0.36 per cent.
It was observed that the weak growth posted by the other four sectors could not put an end to the reign of the bears at the exchange.
The energy counter appreciated by 0.08 per cent, the insurance space improved by 0.06 per cent, the consumer goods sector gained 0.05 per cent, while the industrial goods sector increased by 0.01 per cent.
When the market closed for the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) was down by 22.67 points to 43,230.34 points from 43,253.01 points, while the market capitalisation was down by N12 billion to N22.560 trillion from 22.572 trillion.
