By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited witnessed panic selling on Monday as the macroeconomic indices are showing no signs of improvement.
This plunged the stock exchange further by 1.11 per cent during the session as profit-taking activities dominated the space, with blue-chip stocks the major culprits.
The market recorded 17 price losers yesterday, with MTN Nigeria the ring leader after its value depreciated by 6.99 per cent to trade at N213.00. United Capital dropped 5.51 per cent to sell for N12.00, Cutix fell by 5.46 per cent to N2.25, RT Briscoe declined by 5.00 per cent to 38 Kobo, while Sovereign Trust Insurance shed 3.70 per cent to close at 26 Kobo.
On the other hand, 13 equities gained points, with the trio of CAP, NAHCO and FTN Cocoa on top of the chart after they rose by 10.00 per cent each to sell for N18.70, N6.05 and 33 Kobo respectively, while Multiverse appreciated by 7.89 per cent to N2.05, with Unity Bank appreciating by 7.14 per cent to 45 Kobo.
During the trading day, UBA emerged as the most traded stock, selling 15.9 million units valued at N114.2 million, while Zenith Bank traded 12.3 million units worth N262.3 million.
Further, Transcorp sold 5.4 million equities worth N6.2 million, GTCO exchanged 5.1 million shares for N105.7 million, while Dangote Sugar transacted 4.1 million stocks valued at N66.8 million.
At the close of trades, 98.9 million stocks worth N2.5 billion were traded in 4,314 deals compared with the 205.1 million stocks worth N3,1 billion transacted in 3,600 deals in the preceding session, representing a decline in the trading volume and value by 51.79 per cent and 17.77 per cent respectively and an increase in the number of deals by 19.83 per cent.
Business Post reports that the energy sector depreciated by 0.03 per cent on the first trading session of the week, while the banking, consumer goods, insurance and industrial goods counters appreciated by 1.03 per cent, 0.12 per cent, 0.06 per cent and 0.04 per cent respectively.
But when the market closed for the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) was down by 579.39 points to 51,400.53 points from 51,979.92 points as the market capitalisation declined by N313 billion to settle at N27.718 trillion in contrast to the previous session’s N28.031 trillion.
