NGX: Equities investors lose N18bn as ASI dips marginally

Equities trading at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) was bearish on Monday as the benchmark index dipped marginally by 0.07 per cent.

At the end of trading activity, the All Share Index settled at 49,629.43 basis points as against its previous close of 49,664.07 basis point, pulling down both the month-to-date and year-to-date performance to -1.47 per cent and 16.18 per cent from their previous close of -1.40 per cent and 16.26 per cent respectively.

Investors, therefore, lost N18 billion as the market capitalisation followed suit the direction of the ASI to stand at N26.769 trillion, representing a 0.07 per cent decrease from the N26.787 trillion it stood at the end of the previous trading session.

Bears’ camp maintained dominance over the market breadth with 17 counters in the losers’chart pitted against 12 counters in the gainers’chart.

On the performance board, Neimeth Pharmaceutical gained 9.29 per cent to become the best performing stock in the session, flanked by Unity Bank, FCMB Group, Zenith Bank and Transcorp as they populated the top five gainers’ chart. From the rear of the chart, Presco, Multiverse, Ikeja Hotel, Dangote Sugar and Jaiz Bank populated the top five losers’ chart.

However, sectorial indices closed in mixed direction with the ASI, with the NGX Industry sector gaining the most weight, as NGX Consumer Goods sector lost the most weight, while NGX Insurance, NGX Growth, and NGX ASEM sectors closed flat.

Market activity as measured by volume of trades shed weight in the session with daily traded volume standing at 210.836 million units, representing 71.90 per cent downtick from a volume of 750.285 million units traded in the previous session.

Value of those traded stocks dipped by 58.78 per cent in the session to stand at N2.188 billion as against a value of N5.307 billion recorded in the previous trading session.

ETranzact dominated the volume charts as the top traded stock by volume for the trading session. This is followed by FBN Holdings, United Bank for Africa, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) and Transcorp to complete the list of the five most traded stocks by volume.

With regards to the value of traded stocks, GTCO took the lead of the top five performers. It is flanked by FBN Holdings, Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa, and BUA Cement.

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