The first trading day of the month and week on Customs Street ended on a negative note on Monday with a 0.22 per cent loss.
The decline suffered by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited during the session was influenced by profit-taking as investors prepare for Detty December.
Business Post observed that the financial services sector attempted to lift the market but selling pressure on the other sectors did not help matters.
According to data, the banking space went up by 0.11 per cent and the insurance counter appreciated by 0.10 per cent.
However, the consumer goods index lost 1.01 per cent, the energy industry slipped by 0.11 per cent, the industrial goods sector depreciated by 0.07 per cent, and the commodity space shrank by 0.06 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) contracted by 310.20 points to 143,210.33 points from 143,520.53 points and the market capitalisation retreated by N197 billion to N91.089 trillion from N91.286 trillion.
International Breweries topped the losers’ table after it lost 10.00 per cent to close at N10.35, RT Briscoe depleted by 9.88 per cent to N3.10, Cornerstone Insurance shrank by 7.83 per cent to N5.53, DAAR Communications went down by 6.52 per cent to 86 Kobo, and Regency Alliance crashed by 4.81 per cent to 99 Kobo.
Conversely, NCR Nigeria led the gainers’ gang after it chalked up 9.97 per cent to trade at N60.10, Sunu Assurances appreciated by 9.18 per cent to N4.28, Champion Breweries improved by 8.11 per cent to N14.00, MeCure Industries rose by 7.58 per cent to N29.80, and Guinea Insurance gained 7.27 per cent to finish at N1.18.
Analysis of the data from the bourse showed that 19 equities ended on the gainers’ group and 26 equities finished on the losers’ side, indicating a negative market breadth index and weak investor sentiment.
The activity chart was dominated by Cornerstone Insurance with the sale of 908.8 million shares valued at N4.6 billion, Wema Bank transacted 113.3 million stocks for N2.1 billion, Access Holdings traded 93.9 million equities worth N2.0 billion, Fidelity Bank sold 59.9 million shares worth N1.1 billion, and Zenith Bank exchanged 25.0 million stocks valued at N1.5 billion.
At the close of trades, a total of 1.5 billion equities worth N18.7 billion exchanged hands in 28,956 deals, in contrast to the 1.8 billion equities valued at N20.0 billion traded in 20,645 deals last Friday.
This implied that the number of deals increased by 40.26 per cent, the volume of transactions went down by 16.67 per cent, and the value of trades decreased by 6.50 per cent.