Stock Investors Start New Week With N1.173trn Loss

By Dipo Olowookere

The first trading session of the new week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited was down on Monday by 1.28 per cent.

The loss was influenced by fresh profit-taking by investors, with the industrial goods recording the heaviest loss after giving up 4.48 per cent at the close of business.

Further, the banking space lost 1.01 per cent, the energy index depreciated by 0.32 per cent, the commodity counter declined by 0.08 per cent, and the consumer goods slumped by 0.02 per cent, while the insurance sector rose by 0.07 per cent.

When the closing gong was struck to signify the close of the market, the All-Share Index (ASI) contracted by 1,853.82 to 145,159.77 points from 147,013.59 points and the market capitalisation retreated by N1.173 trillion to N92.329 trillion from N93.502 trillion.

Business Post observed that despite the loss, investor sentiment was strong with a positive market breadth index after the bourse ended with 28 advancing equities and 24 declining equities.

Nigerian Enamelware led the losers’ chart yesterday after it shed 10.00 per cent to finish at N40.50, Dangote Cement also lost 10.00 per cent to close at N534.60, Transcorp declined by 4.66 per cent to N43.00, AIICO Insurance crashed by 4.11 per cent to N3.50, and Guinea Insurance depreciated by 3.97 per cent to N1.21.

On the flip side, Sovereign Trust Insurance led the gainers’ table with a 9.97 per cent rise to settle at N3.20, NCR Nigeria soared by 9.96 per cent to N28.15, Tantalizers grew by 9.81 per cent to N2.35, Prestige Assurance expanded by 9.70 per cent to N1.47, and Eunisell chalked up 8.52 per cent to sell for N79.00.

During the session, market participants transacted 388.2 million shares worth N31.1 billion in 28,492 deals, in contrast to the 4.9 billion shares valued at N42.3 billion traded in 24,152 deals last Friday, indicating a jump in the number of deals by 17.97 per cent, and a shortfall in the trading volume and value by 92.08 per cent and 26.48 per cent apiece.

The news of Tantalizers sealing an exporting deal with a US-based firm influenced investors to have interests in its stocks on Monday, emerging as the most active with the sale of sold 57.1 million units worth N134.2 million.

Aradel Holdings traded 30.4 million units valued at N21.5 billion, GTCO transacted 21.8 million units for N1.9 billion, Aso Savings exchanged 20.0 million units valued at N21.7 million, and Sterling Holdings finished with a turnover of 15.5 million units worth N114.0 million.