Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Monday witnessed another drop in share prices as investors continue to remain jittery over coronavirus pandemic in the country.
The market capitalisation of equities depreciated by N260bn from N11.568tn last Friday to N11.308tn as market sentiment returned on the negative territory.
The equity market recorded nine gainers against 25 losers led by Dangote Cement Plc and Nascon Plc to sustain downward trend.
The All-Share Index dipped 497.45 basis points or 2.24 per cent to close at 21,700.98 index points as against 22.198.43 recorded at the previous trading session.
Meanwhile, a turnover of 464.4 million shares exchanged in 5,883 deals recorded on the day’s trading.
The premium subsector was the most active (measured by turnover volume); with 232.6 million shares exchanged by investors in 3,178 deals.
Volume in the subsector was largely driven by activities in the shares of FBNH Plc and Zenith Bank Plc.
Also, the banking subsector boosted by the activities in the shares of GTBank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc followed with a turnover of 97.7 million shares in 1.094 deals.
A further analysis of the day’s trading showed that in percentage terms, Neimeth Pharmaceuticals Plc topped the gainers’ table with 10 per cent to close at 44 kobo per share while May and Baker Plc followed with 8.94 per cent to close at N1.95 per share. Custodian and Allied Investment Plc added 8.65 per cent to close at N5.65 per share.
On the flip side, Dangote Sugar, Nigerian Breweries, Stanbic IBTC, UBA Plc and Wema Bank Plc led the losers with a drop of 10 per cent each to close at N9.00, N27.00, N23.00, N4.50 and 45 kobo per share respectively while UCAP Plc shed 9.96 per cent to close at N2.17 per share. GTB Plc trailed with 9.95 per cent to close at N16.75 per share.
— Punch