By Dipo Olowookere
The local bourse kicked off trading on Monday on a negative note as bears maintain firm grip on the stock market.
It was observed that the release of first quarter earnings by some companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has still refused to push investors to add more shares into their portfolios.
At the close of transactions today, the Lagos stock exchange went down by 0.13 percent as the year-to-date return dipped to 6.59 percent.
The market capitalisation depreciated by N18.4 billion to settle at N14.725 trillion, while the All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 50.96 points to close at 40,763.93 points.
However, the volume and value of transactions recorded on Monday increased significantly with a total of 530.2 million shares exchanging hands in 4,567 deals worth N7.8 billion in contrast to the 242.3 million equities sold in 5,746 deals last Friday valued at N3 billion.
The most traded stock today was Law Union and Rock Insurance, which sold a total of 220.8 million units valued at N253.8 million.
Zenith Bank transacted 76.7 million shares worth N2 billion, while FBN Holdings exchanged 24.3 million equities for N318.7 million.
Nigerian Breweries sold 21 million equities valued at N2.7 billion, while Transcorp traded 17.7 million worth N30.7 million.
A look at the price movement chart showed that Nigerian Breweries was the market’s highest price gainer, adding N3.60k to its share value to settle at N129.70k per share.
Forte Oil improved by N1.85k to close at N39.30k per share, while GlaxoSmithKline appreciated by N1.70k to finish at N32 per share.
Stanbic IBTC grew by N1 to end at N50 per share, while FBN Holdings increased by 60k to settle at N13.45k per share.
Conversely, Flour Mills turned out to be the heaviest price loser, shedding N1.65k to close at N33.55k per share.
It was followed by Dangote Cement, which lost N1.50k to finish at N248 per share, and GTBank, which depreciated by 95k to end at N43.90k per share.
Dangote Sugar declined by 85k to settle at N20.55k per share, while Lafarge also went down by 85k to close at N43.60k per share.
