Categories: Business

Local stock market bows to profit taking, investors lose N153bn

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4 years ago

Trading in the domestic bourse started the week with bearish sentiments as profit-taking activities in bellwether stocks.

Precisely, the All Share Index (ASI) of the Nigeria Exchange Limited (NGX) declined by 0.7 per cent to close at 41,144.67 basis points largely due to declines recorded in the stocks of FBN Holdings, MTN Nigeria and Nestle Nigeria.

Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date return settled at +2.3 per cent and +2.2 per cent, respectively.
Investments in the local bourse, therefore reduced by N153 billion as the market capitalization settled at N21.47 trillion at the end of trading activities on Monday.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative, as 20 tickers lost relative to 18 gainers. On the performance chart, May&Baker and Royal Exchange topped the losers column as their respective shares declined by 8.0 per cent and 7.8 per cent, while Ikeja Hotels and Custodian Insurance recorded the most significant gains of the day having appreciated by 9.5 per cent and 7.3 per cent respectively.

Reflective of the negative market sentiment, three of the five indexes tracked closed in red: the NGX Insurance, NGX Consumer Goods and NGX Oil/Gas moderated by 1.65 per cent, 2.53 per cent and 0.31 per cent respectively.

However, the NSE Banking and the NSE Industrial indices rose by 0.43 per cent and 0.34 per cent respectively.

Market activity on Monday was however weak as the total volume of trades decreased by 56.5 per cent to 317.05 million units, valued at N3.76 billion, and exchanged in 5,721 deals.

FBN Holdings was the most traded stock by volume and value at 67.61 million units and N832.80 million, respectively.
As profit booking persists at the local bourse, analysts expect investors to seize the opportunity of lower share prices to lock in more funds in the equities market.

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Local stock market bows to profit taking, investors lose N153bn