The Nigerian equities market started the new week on a bearish stance as the benchmark index declined by 0.5 per cent by the end of trading activities on Monday.
Despite expectations that impressive second-quarter results by most companies will lift the face of the local bourse, the All Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) settled lower at 50,489.73 basis points as against its previous close of 50,722.33 basis points.
This outing pegged both the month-to-date and year-to-date performance of the ASI at 0.24 per cent and 18.20 per cent from their previous close of 0.70 per cent and 18.74 per cent, respectively.
Investors, therefore, lost N125 billion as the market capitalisation followed suit the direction of the ASI to stand at N27.233 trillion, representing a 0.46 per cent decrease from the N27.358 trillion it stood at the end of the previous trading session.
Bears dominated the market breadth with 15 counters in the losers’ chart pitted against 10 counters in the gainers’ chart.
On the performance board, Japaul Gold gained 8.82 per cent to become the best performing stock in the session, flanked by Honeywell Flour Mills, Cornerstone Insurance, Lasaco Insurance and United Capital as they populated the top five gainers’ chart. From the rear of the chart, RTBriscoe, IMG, Sky Aviation, Ellah Lakes and Caverton populated the top five losers’ chart.
Key sectoral indices closed in the same direction as the ASI, save for NGX Insurance and NGX Consumer Goods sectors which gained 1.36 per cent and 0.17 per cent respectively, while NGXOil&Gas, NGX Growth and NGX ASEM sectors closed flat.
However, market activity as measured by both volume and value of trades improved in the session, with daily traded volume standing at 207.196 million units, representing a 39.24 per cent uptick from a volume of 148.810 million units traded in the previous session.
The value of those traded stocks inched up by 10.07 per cent in the session to stand at N2.119 billion as against a value of N1.925 billion recorded in the previous trading session.
FBN Holdings dominated the volume charts as the top traded stock by volume for the trading session, followed by Multiverse, Access Corporation, AIICO, and Zenith Bank to complete the list of the five most traded stocks by volume.
With regards to the value of traded stocks, FBN Holdings took the lead of the top five performers, flanked by Zenith Bank, MTN Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Holding Company and Seplat Energies.
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