The sell-offs witnessed on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited continued spilled over to this week after closing the first trading session on a wrong note.
On Monday, the local bourse suffered a 0.30 per cent decline due to sustained profit-taking by investors, who are cutting their exposure to Nigerian stocks over uncertainties.
Though the level of the selling pressure has eased, investor sentiment remained extremely weak as there were 13 price gainers and 40 price losers, representing a negative market breadth index.
The duo of Linkage Assurance and RT Briscoe lost 10.00 per cent each to sell for N1.62, and N3.06 apiece, as NAHCO declined by 9.95 per cent to N95.00, Mutual Benefits slipped by 9.89 per cent to N3.37, and AIICO Insurance depreciated by 9.89 per cent to N3.37.
On the flip side, Aso Savings improved by 10.00 per cent to 99 Kobo, Deap Capital expanded by 9.83 per cent to N1.90, Cornerstone Insurance increased by 8.70 per cent to N6.00, Neimeth gained 8.65 per cent to N5.65, and Japaul appreciated by 6.70 per cent to N2.23.
A total of 364.4 million equities valued at N11.4 billion exchanged hands in 32,564 deals during the session compared with the 527.2 million equities worth N15.4 billion traded in 24,637 deals last Friday, indicating a rise in the number of deals by 32.18 per cent, and a decline in the trading volume and value by 30.88 per cent and 25.97 per cent, respectively.
Access Holdings sold 22.8 million units for NN496.6 million to lead the activity log, Zenith Bank exchanged 21.9 million units worth N1.3 billion, Chams transacted 17.9 million units valued at N54.1 million, Aso Savings traded 14.8 million units worth N14.3 million, and AIICO Insurance exchanged 14.0 million units valued at N48.7 million.
Yesterday, the commodity and energy indices were flat, while the insurance counter lost 4.42 per cent, the consumer goods space declined by 1.32 per cent, the banking sector shed 0.65 per cent, and the industrial goods index depreciated by 0.01 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 742.91 points to 148,781.90 points from 149,524.81 points and the market capitalisation depleted by N472 billion to N94.526 trillion from N94.998 trillion.