Local stock market opens week bearish as investors lose N436.97bn

Equities trading at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) opened the week bearish as profit-taking activities in MTN Nigeria Communication undermined market performance having dipped in share value by 5.5 percent.

As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) dipped by 0.73 percent to 103,659.81 basis points, with the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderating to +2.5 percent and +38.6 percent, respectively.

Equities investors therefore lost N436.97 billion from their cumulative investments as the market capitalization settled at N56.72 trillion by the end of the day’s trading activities.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative, as 27 tickers lost relative to 26 gainers. On the performance board, Abbey Mortgage Bank and Livestock  Feeds recorded the most significant losses of the day having dipped in share prices by 9.7 percent respectively, while Meyer and Daar Communication topped the gainers’ list after their share prices appreciated by 10 percent, respectively.

Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Insurance index advanced by 2.7 percent, while the Banking index declined by 2.3 percent. Meanwhile, the Consumer Goods, Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indices closed flat.

Analysis of market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 17.67 percent.

A total of 841.55 billion shares valued at N19.33 billion were exchanged in 13,674 deals. First Bank of Nigeria Holdings led both the volume and value chart with 332.30 million units traded in deals worth N8.95 billion.