The first trading day of the new week at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a negative note on Monday with a 0.15 per cent loss.
This was influenced by a decline in the appetite for Nigerian stocks by investors, as market participants chose to trade cautiously.
The profit-taking put most of the sectors under pressure, with the insurance index crumbling by 1.70 per cent at the close of transactions.
Further, the consumer goods space declined by 0.38 per cent, the banking counter shrank by 0.20 per cent, and the energy industry depreciated by 0.19 per cent, while the industrial goods and commodity sectors closed flat.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) gave up 155.96 points to settle at 105,799.17 points compared with last Friday’s 105,955.13 points, and the market capitalisation tumbled by N8 billion to close at N66.344 trillion versus N66.352 trillion.
The worst-performing stock yesterday was eTranzact after it lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N5.85, Sunu Assurances depleted by 9.92 per cent to N4.63, Prestige Assurance fell by 8.26 per cent to N1.00, Sovereign Trust Insurance crashed by 7.77 per cent to 95 Kobo, and Red Star Express stumbled by 7.76 per cent to N5.35.
The best-performing stock for the session was Academy Press as it chalked up 9.92 per cent to sell for N2.88, Neimeth appreciated by 8.43 per cent to N2.70, Tantalizers rose by 6.83 per cent to N3.13, Dangote Sugar jumped by 4.71 per cent to N36.70, and Stanbic IBTC grew by 4.24 per cent to N61.50.
Business Post reports that there were 18 price gainers and 35 price losers on Monday, representing a negative market breadth index and weak investor sentiment.
During the trading day, investors traded 477.5 million shares valued at N7.1 billion in 13,520 deals compared with the 750.6 million shares worth N11.1 billion transacted in 10,584 deals in the preceding session, indicating a growth in the number of deals by 27.74 per cent, and a slump in the trading volume and value by 36.38 per cent and 36.04 per cent, respectively.
Jaiz Bank topped the activity chart after selling 197.4 million stocks for N606.2 million, Zenith Bank transacted 26.0 million shares for N1.2 billion, Sovereign Trust Insurance traded 19.3 million equities worth N18.5 million, Prestige Assurance exchanged 18.5 million shares valued at N19.0 million, and Fidelity Bank sold 15.9 million equities worth N270.5 million.