The first trading session of this week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a negative note on Monday after a 0.25 per cent loss.
This was due to heavy profit-taking in most of the key sectors of the bourse during the trading day, as the 0.49 per cent growth printed by the consumer goods space could not salvage the situation.
Data obtained by Business Post from Customs Street indicated that the energy index was down by 3.94 per cent, the commodity space shrank by 1.85 per cent, the industrial goods counter weakened by 1.48 per cent, and the banking industry slumped by 0.22 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.
At the close of business, the 387.34 points to 153,739.11 points from 154,126.45 points and the market capitalisation contracted by N246 billion to N97.583 trillion from the N97.829 trillion it ended last Friday.
Honeywell Flour was the worst-performing equity for the day after it lost 10.00 per cent to sell for N18.00, Northern Nigeria Flour Mills depreciated by 9.98 per cent to N84.30, Aradel Holdings gave up 9.21 per cent to close at N710.00, Japaul declined by 7.95 per cent to N2.20, and Ikeja Hotel slipped by 7.71 per cent to N17.35.
The best-performing equity was Union Dicon, which gained 9.93 per cent to finish at N7.75, Omatek appreciated by 9.92 per cent to N1.33, NAHCO expanded by 7.62 per cent to N113.00, International Breweries jumped 6.35 per cent to N13.40, and Champion Breweries rose by 6.33 per cent to N15.95.
It was observed that 38 shares ended on the losers’ table yesterday and 19 shares finished on the gainers’ chart, showing a negative market breadth index and bearish sentiment.
The busiest stock for the session was UBA with 136.8 million units sold for N5.5 billion, Aso Savings traded 109.0 million units valued at N120.4 million, Access Holdings exchanged 68.2 million units worth N1.6 billion, GTCO transacted 49.8 million units for N4.6 billion, and Zenith Bank sold 31.8 million units valued at N2.0 billion.
In all, investors bought and sold 627.5 million shares worth N25.0 billion in 36,425 deals compared with the 5.2 billion shares valued at N45.2 billion transacted in 30,598 deals, representing a decline in the trading volume and value by 87.93 per cent, 44.69 per cent, respectively, and a rise in the number of deals by 19.04 per cent.