Nigerian equities were down by 0.44 per cent on Monday, shedding value for the first time in 10 days in a trading session that saw sector giants: MTN and GTB steer a loss running into N37 billion.
Also aiding loss, investors showed great determination to offload building material stocks notably BUA Cement and Lafarge WAPCO, and that had implications for the industrial index, which took the hugest blow of the five sectorial indexes tracked by the exchange, going down 0.66 per cent.
But the market breadth bucked the negative shift as 22 gainers were reported against 14 decliners.
With Monday’s loss coming after four straight sessions of gain, it is apparent that profit-taking is already here and stocks could see a decline in quick succession in the days ahead.
The all-share index slipped 175.42 points to 39,306.47, while the market capitalisation sank also to N20.542 trillion
The index has been down by 2.39 per cent since the turn of the year.
TOP FIVE GAINERS
Eterna led gainers, rising by 9.85 per cent to N7.25. Royal Exchange added 9.21 per cent to end today’s trade at N0.83. Capital Hotel went up by 9.09 per cent to N2.40. Regal Insurance leapt to N0.37, notching up 8.82 per cent in the process. Sterling Bank completed the top 5, climbing up by 8.11 per cent to N1.60.
TOP FIVE LOSERS
Unilever led losers, declining by 10% to close at N15.30. Ardova shed 9.96% to end today’s trade at N11.75. Chellram fell to N2.51, losing 9.71%. Eterna slumped to N2.24, recording 9.68% depreciation. Deap Capital closed at N0.30, going down by 9.09%.
Altogether, 213.981 million shares estimated at N1.885 billion were traded in 2,888 deals.
Zenith Bank led trade with 52.676 million units of its stocks worth N1.247 billion traded in 538 deals. FBN Holdings transacted 42.469 million shares, priced at N307.148 million, in 223 trades. NEM had 39.449 million shares valued at N88.646 million traded in 22 deals. Sovereign Insurance traded 23.617 million shares estimated at N6.158 million in 29 transactions. Fidelity Bank traded 23.330 million shares valued at N55.768 million in 175 deals.
– Premium Times