Investors lose N34.33bn to open week negative

The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) equities market on Monday closed the first trading activities of the week on a bearish note, with a decline of N34.33 billion on profit-taking in high capitalised stocks.

In summary, the All-Share Index (ASI) dropped by 73.01 basis points, representing a decline of 0.19 per cent to close at 37,585.25 basis points, while the overall market capitalisation value lost N34 billion to close at N19.593 trillion.

Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses increased to -2.2per cent and -6.7per cent, respectively.

Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Insurance (+0.2 per cent) and Industrial Goods (+0.1 per cent) indices recorded gains while the Oil & Gas (-0.4 per cent) index declined. The Consumer Goods and Banking indices closed flat.

The market loss was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Presco, BOC Gases, Conoil, Africa Prudential and Zenith Bank Plc.

This week, analysts at United Capital Plc expected the equities market to record a rebound following bullish sentiments observed towards the end of the prior week.

In addition, the market appears to be technically oversold in the short term and is poised for a potential rebound higher.

The market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was negative, as 18 stocks declined, relative to 13 gainers. Ikeja Hotel recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent to close at N1.10, per share.

Fidson Healthcare followed with a gain 7.91 per cent to close at N6.00, while Linkage Assurance went up by 7.69 per cent to close at 70 kobo, per share.

Chams rose by five per cent to close at 21 kobo, while FCMB Group gained 3.33 per cent to close at N3.10, per share.

On the other hand, BOC Gases led the losers’ chart by 9.95 per cent to close at N9.50, per share. Royal Exchange followed with a decline of 7.94 per cent to close at 58 kobo, while Unity Bank lost 5.17 per cent to close at 55 kobo, per share.

Mutual Benefits Assurance lost 4.76 per cent to close at 40 kobo, while Honeywell Flour Mills shed 4.52 per cent to close at N1.48, per share.

The total volume of trades declined by 19.34 per cent to 163.503 million units, valued at N3.437 billion, and exchanged in 3,562 deals.

Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings topped the activity chart with 18.141 million shares valued at N130.423 million.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with 13.006 million shares worth N94.439 million, while Guaranty Trust Holding Company traded 11.845 million shares valued at N355.410 million.

MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN) traded 9.201 million shares valued at N1.501 billion, while Zenith Bank transacted 8.812 million shares worth N208.623 million.