By Dipo Olowookere
The first trading day of the week finished bearish on Monday after the market close 0.22 percent lower to reverse the gains of the three sessions of last week.
The loss occurred despite the market breadth ending positive with 26 price gainers as against the 17 price losers at the close of business.
Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased yesterday by 64.56 points to close at 29,495.91 points, while the market capitalisation went down by N24 billion to finish at N11.079 trillion.
An analysis of the price movement chart showed that Nestle Nigeria printed the highest loss, going down by N3.80k to settle at N1452.20k per unit.
Dangote Cement depreciated by N3 to end at N186 per share, while Flour Mills fell by 45 kobo to close at N16.40k per share.
Ecobank recorded a 35 kobo decline to finish at N10.35k per share, while UBA went down by 30 to close at N6.20k per share.
On the gainers’ table, Nigerian Breweries dominated on Monday with a gain of N3.80k to finish at N64 per share.
Cadbury Nigeria trailed with a rise of 90 kobo to end at N11 per unit, while CCNN also appreciated by 90 kobo to close at N16.90k per share.
Dangote Flour improved its stock value yesterday by 80 kobo to end at N9.20k per share, while PZ Cussons rose by 60 kobo to settle at N9.45k per share.
At the market on Monday, the volume of shares transacted by investors decreased by 3.86 percent from 232.8 million to 223.8 million, while value dropped by 9.51 percent from N2 billion to N1.9 billion.
A breakdown of the trades showed that Sovereign Trust Insurance closed as the most traded stock, selling 45.7 million shares worth N11 million.
Chams followed with 36.8 million units sold for N10.9 million, while Union Bank traded 26.2 million shares for N178.4 million.
GTBank exchanged 14.4 million equities worth N503.4 million, while UBA transacted 13.7 million equities valued at N86.4 million.
Adedapo Adesanya