The first trading session of this week at Customs Street ended with a marginal 0.03 per cent loss on Monday following profit-taking in financial and energy sectors.
The counters closed lower during the session as investors re-caliberated their portfolios due to the instability in the global financial markets.
The All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited was down yesterday by 33.72 points to 104,529.62 points from 104,563.34 points and the market capitalisation depleted by N22 billion to N65.685 trillion from N65.707 trillion.
Business Post reports that the banking index crumbled by 1.99 per cent, the insurance sector depreciated by 0.36 per cent, and the energy counter lost 0.19 per cent, while the consumer goods space improved by 0.08 per cent, with the industrial goods and commodity indices closing flat.
It was observed that despite the disappointing outcome, the market breadth index was positive after the bourse ended with 28 price gainers and 24 price losers, representing a strong investor sentiment.
International Energy Insurance lost 9.76 per cent to trade at N1.48, Consolidated Hallmark shed 8.33 per cent to N2.75, Japaul went down by 7.46 per cent to N1.86, Chams dropped 6.98 per cent to N2.00, and Neimeth eased by 6.94 per cent to N2.68.
Conversely, Abbey Mortgage Bank rose by 9.95 per cent to N6.74, UPDC gained 9.82 per cent to sell for N3.13, Guinea Insurance increased by 9.52 per cent to 69 Kobo, VFD Group jumped by 9.46 per cent to N96.00, and Sovereign Trust Insurance soared by 9.41 per cent to 93 Kobo.
Yesterday, a total of 428.2 million shares worth N10.5 billion exchanged hands in 14,583 deals versus the 380.0 million shares worth N10.1 billion traded in 10,791 deals last Friday, implying a rise in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 12.68 per cent, 3.96 per cent and 35.14 per cent, respectively.
The activity chart was topped by Access Holdings with 56.0 million equities sold for N1.2 billion, Zenith Bank traded 55.4 million stocks valued at N2.8 billion, Fidelity Bank transacted 39.0 million shares worth N725.9 million, UBA exchanged 33.2 million equities valued at N1.0 billion, and GTCO traded 31.0 million stocks for N2.1 billion.