Opening the week bearish, the Nigerian equities market sustained last week’s negative run as the All-Share Index (ASI) dipped by 0.7 per cent to close at 66,882.64 basis points.
The market’s weak performance at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Monday was driven by selloffs in telco heavyweight MTN Nigeria Communications, alongside, Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Holding Company, as these heavyweight stocks depreciated by 1.67 per cent, 1.54 per cent and 0.42 per cent, respectively.
Thus, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderated to +0.5 per cent and +30.5 per cent, respectively
Equities investors therefore lost N241.88 billion from their cumulative investment as the market capitalisation settled at N36.61 trillion by the end of the day’s trading activities.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Banking and Consumer Goods declined by 3.2 per cent, and 0.1 per cent, respectively; while the Insurance and Industrial Goods indices advanced 0.2 per cent, and 0.1 per cent, respectively. Meanwhile, the Oil & Gas index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative as 36 tickers lost relative to 15 gainers. On the performance board, Caverton and Access Holdings topped the losers’ list having recorded 9.9 per cent respective depreciated in their share value; while Ikeja Hotel and John Holt recorded the highest gains of the day after the share prices appreciated by 10.0 per cent and 9.7 per cent, respectively.
Analysis of market activities on Monday showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 24.96 per cent. A total of 408.19 million shares valued at 5.44 billion were exchanged in 7,707 deals.
Access Holdings led the volume and value charts with 113.39 million units traded in deals worth N1.78 billion.
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