It was a bad start to the week for the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited as it further shed 0.24 per cent on Monday due to continued profit-taking.
The loss happened on a day the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) commenced its two-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that the gross domestic product (GDP) of Nigeria increased by 4.23 per cent in the second quarter of 2025.
Analysts are expecting a slight rate cut announcement on Tuesday (today) from the central bank because of the moderation in inflation rate for the past five months. The bank has retained rates for the past four MPC meetings.
It was observed that on Customs Street yesterday, the selling pressure was almost across the key sectors, though the commodity and the industrial goods sectors were flat.
The consumer goods space lost 0.77 per cent, the energy index fell by 0.50 per cent, the banking counter weakened by 0.25 per cent, and the insurance industry slumped by 0.08 per cent.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) retracted by 347.12 points to 141,498.22 points from 141,845.34 points and the market capitalisation retreated by N219 billion to N89.525 trillion from N89.744 trillion.
On the first trading session of the week, McNichols topped the laggards’ group after it lost 10.00 per cent to finish at N3.33, Ikeja Hotel declined by 9.80 per cent to N20.70, FTN Cocoa depleted by 8.33 per cent to N5.50, Nigerian Breweries tumbled by 7.64 per cent to N70.15, and Honeywell Flour decreased by 6.79 per cent to N20.60.
Conversely, Royal Exchange led the advancers’ gang after it added 9.80 per cent to its share price to close at N2.24, Secure Electronic Technology appreciated by 6.67 per cent to 80 Kobo, Chams improved by 6.13 per cent to N3.29, Prestige Assurance expanded by 5.75 per cent to N1.84, and DAAR Communications grew by 5.66 per cent to N1.12.
During the trading day, investors bought and sold 488.6 million shares valued at N13.7 billion in 28,621 deals compared with the 435.2 million shares valued at N15.1 billion traded in 24,309 deals last Friday, showing shortfall in the trading value by 9.27 per cent and a rise in the trading volume and number of deals by 12.27 per cent and 17.74 per cent, respectively.
Universal Insurance was on top of the activity chart after it sold 79.6 million units for N95.1 million, Zenith Bank traded 58.6 million units worth N3.7 billion, Nigerian Breweries transacted 32.5 million units valued at N2.4 billion UBA exchanged 32.0 million units for N1.4 billion, and Secure Electronic Technology traded 22.2 million units worth N17.8 million.